Wall Street’s key stock indices edged higher on Friday after US President Donald Trump confirmed the meeting with his Chinese counterpart was still on and amid lingering jitters regarding instability in regional banks.
At 12:07 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 239.04 points, or 0.52%, to 46,191.28. The S&P 500 gained 22.37 points, or 0.34%, to 6,651.44, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 51.84 points, or 0.23%, to 22,614.37.
At 10:14 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 233.15 points, or 0.51%, to 46,185.39. The S&P 500 gained 24.60 points, or 0.37%, to 6,653.67, while the Nasdaq Composite added 80.13 points, or 0.36%, to 22,642.67.
As of 9:35 AM Eastern Time, the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3% lower.
Amid the ongoing trade tensions, Trump said his proposed 100% tariff on Chinese goods would not be sustainable and he would meet Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Investors have been closely watching the banking sector since auto parts company First Brands and subprime lender Tricolor filed for bankruptcy in September, with the former owing billions to banks.
On Thursday, two regional US banks revealed issues with credit, sparking a sell-off in banking shares amid concerns over the exposure of smaller and mid-sized lenders to bad loans.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was steady at 3.99%.
Gainers and Losers
Zions Bancorp climbed 6.4%. The bank is charging off $50 million of loans where it found “apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults” by the borrowers.
Western Alliance Bancorp, which sued a borrower due to allegations of fraud, advanced 4%.
Shares of artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia fell 0.6%.
Truist Financial stock gained 3.6% after the bank reported higher quarterly profit.
Fifth Third Bancorp shares jumped 3%.
Eli Lilly stock fell 2.6% after Trump said he would cut prices of weight-loss drugs.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla gained 1.8%.
State Street shares fell 4.6% after the bank’s third quarter net interest income missed Wall Street estimates.
Bullion Market
Gold prices declined on Friday after hitting a record high above $4,300 per ounce, pressured by a strong US dollar.
At 10:21 AM ET (1421 GMT), spot gold fell 2.2% to $4,228.89 per ounce after scaling an all-time high of $4,378.69 earlier in the session. US gold futures for December delivery edged down 1.5% to $4,239.30.
In other metals, spot silver fell 4.1% to $51.99 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $54.47. Platinum lost 6.1% to $1,607.65 and palladium dropped 7% to $1,500.00.
Crude Oil
Oil prices slipped on Friday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted a growing market surplus. This bearish forecast, combined with news that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet again to discuss Ukraine, kept downward pressure on prices.
Brent crude fell $0.09 to $60.97 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate lost $0.04 to trade at $57.42.
