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Business News›Markets›US Stocks›Wall St Guide›Dow Jones| Nasdaq | US Stock Market Today | Highlights: Dow Jones ends 400 pts higher amid rise in Treasury yields, crude prices LIVE BLOG Dow soars 500 pts amid rising Treasury yields, crude prices Synopsis Dow Jones Today | Nasdaq | S&P 500 Highlights: According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 37.96 points, or 0.49%, to end at 7,742.09 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 125.51 points, or 0.47%, to 27,064.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 469.07 points, or 0.91%, to 51,819.05. A report that US and Iranian negotiators continued to explore a phased path out of the war, which would involve Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade, helped market sentiment. Wall Street ended higher on Friday, lifted by Microsoft and other AI-related technology stocks, while high oil prices and a recent surge in US Treasury yields kept investors on edge. 1 New Update Wall Street ended higher on Friday, lifted by Microsoft and other AI-related technology stocks, while high oil prices and a recent surge in US Treasury yields kept investors on edge. The S&P 500 gained 37.96 points, or 0.49%, to end at 7,742.09 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 125.51 points, or 0.47%, to 27,064.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 469.07 points, or 0.91%, to 51,819.05. (Read More) Treasury-market volatility is heading for its biggest weekly increase in more than a year after bond yields climbed to multi-decade highs, jolting a market that had recently been relatively calm. The ICE BofA MOVE Index, a widely followed gauge of US bond-market volatility, has surged about 29.69% this week. That would mark its biggest weekly increase since last April’s so-called Liberation Day, when sweeping import tariffs announced by President Donald Trump triggered turmoil across global markets. The index has now climbed to levels last seen in March, shortly after the Iran war began. The sharp swings have prompted many traders to stay on the sidelines. Adam Kurpiel, head of rates strategy at Societe Generale SA, said his team is neutral on US interest rates and is waiting “for volatility to subside before initiating trades.” The administration of US President Donald Trump has asked OpenAI and Anthropic PBC not to provide new artificial intelligence models to the UK’s flagship AI testing agency without prior review by US authorities, according to a Bloomberg report. According to a Politico report confirmed to Bloomberg by a British official, the Trump administration wants to ensure that US-developed AI models meet security requirements before being shared with allies and partners, including the UK. OpenAI declined to comment, while Anthropic and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The development highlights a challenge for UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham as he seeks to position Britain as an “honest broker” among countries developing advanced AI technology. During his visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Burnham promoted Britain’s AI Security Institute as a potential leader in AI regulation and safety. UK government officials played down the potential impact of the request, saying the US and UK continue to work closely on AI security. They also stressed that Britain remains a “world leader” in the field. The dollar declined on Friday as oil prices eased, but was set for a second straight weekly advance on growing rate hike bets, while the yen rallied after Japan said Tokyo and Washington remain steadfast to the stance behind July's joint intervention. The dollar was on track to snap a four-day streak of gains as crude prices slumped more than 2%. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against five other currencies, fell 0.3% and was on track for its biggest daily percentage drop in about three weeks, to 100.95. The euro was up 0.15% at $1.1396 but on pace for a third straight weekly decline, its longest run since the start of the year. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said on Friday that surging bond yields are not being pushed up by inflation fears. When it comes to the jump in government bond yields, “it’s real rates that have moved up more than the inflation expectations,” Hammack said at a conference at her bank. “We're reasonably well anchored from an inflation expectations perspective” and rising bond yields reflect a solid economic outlook, competition for investor cash due to strong tech sector investment, as well as market participants adjusting prices to deal with the monetary policy outlook, the official said. Iran’s president welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s support for returning to the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. Joe Lonsdale, an investor in Anthropic and the co-founder of technology company Palantir , said on Friday that efforts by some leading artificial intelligence companies to warn of existential risks from AI amounted to a dangerous attempt to shape public policy. Lonsdale, also founder of venture capital firm 8VC, criticized what he described as efforts by people close to Anthropic and at OpenAI to fund outside groups advocating stronger AI regulation, which he argued could help a small number of leading companies shape the rules governing the industry and entrench their market power. "I think that what OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing right now is very dangerous, and we don't want an oligopoly that controls all of our policy here with the government," Lonsdale said at the Reuters Momentum AI Austin event. "Safety is a real thing, but fear and regulation — we've got to be really careful how we respond to those things." The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Mirum Pharmaceuticals' drug to treat a rare bone disorder, the regulator said on Friday. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said on Friday she is increasingly worried that inflation that has overshot the central bank’s 2% target for years will cause the public to lose confidence that price pressures will return to target. “The biggest risk that I see with inflation right now is that an inflationary mindset could start to set in,” with inflation over target for more than five years, Hammack said at an event at her bank. She added the Fed has a role to play, saying, “We need to make sure that policy is at a restrictive stance to help bring things back down to target.” Startup DaVoice has sued Perplexity AI in California federal court for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to "wake word" technology for AI assistants. * The heavily redacted complaint filed on Thursday said that Perplexity stole DaVoice's secrets after the companies collaborated on unspecified technology "built with DaVoice’s proprietary source code, inference logic, network architecture, training approaches, training data, and know-how" * A Perplexity spokesperson on Friday called the lawsuit "a baseless attempt to claim ownership of standard wake-word technology" and said the companies' agreement "expressly protects our right to develop our own 'similar, equal or competitive products or services.'" Diesel prices appear likely to stay high due to reduced refining capacity, raising broader gauges of inflation in the euro zone, European Central Bank Vice President Boris Vujcic said on Friday. "Energy prices, particularly diesel, will probably stay high for long and that will feed into the inflation because diesel is really in many products," he told an event at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Nike-owned sneaker brand Converse told employees it is pausing all marketing this week after an earlier advertisement sparked outrage for evoking imagery of the Ku Klux Klan and lynching, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the decision. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Nike did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Converse pulled the advertisement after facing public backlash last week and apologized, saying "we got this wrong." Scott Bessent will not be Donald Trump's AI czar, the Republican president said on Friday, adding that he wants his US Treasury secretary to remain in his current role. "Scott Bessent will not be going to be Super Intelligence (SI) Czar. Number One, he doesn’t want to. Number Two, he’s doing such a great job at Treasury, and that’s where I want to keep him! Why would I ever make such a change?" Trump said in a social media post, using his preferred term for artificial intelligence. Last week, Trump said he plans to appoint an artificial intelligence adviser, known as an "AI czar," and create an "AI force," though he gave no details about either initiative or how they would be implemented. Meta Platforms Inc. is finally delivering the stock breakout that long-suffering bulls had been waiting for. Shares of the Facebook parent has surged 36% in September through Thursday’s close following the launch of its Muse personal AI assistant. The app has quickly climbed to the top of app charts, helping ease investor concerns that the company’s heavy AI spending may not generate sufficient returns, according to a Bloomberg report. Meta’s stock is now on track for its strongest monthly performance since July 2013, bringing the company within striking distance of joining the elite group of businesses valued at $2 trillion or more. Meta Platforms is adding a clearer safety warning within Muse after a security researcher discovered a vulnerability in the AI agent that could let an attacker access a user's sensitive personal information, the Information reported on Friday. A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the social media platform. It is now up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay, with attorneys representing the state asking for the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation. The two-week trial in Santa Fe centered on accusations that Facebook deceived users about a data breach stemming from a third-party personality quiz that harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, to generate targeted ads. The now-defunct firm’s clients included the 2016 campaign for Donald Trump. Jurors sided with prosecutors, finding Facebook’s failure to protect users' data impacted New Mexico’s entire population of more than two million people. Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about investigations into data brokers following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, finding the company liable for over two million violations. Phillips 66 is using artificial intelligence to predict outages within its refining systems, save on maintenance costs and increase crude processing, said Tandra Perkins, an executive vice president at the US refiner. * "I need my systems up more than they're down, being able to predict that obviously saves on maintenance costs," Perkins said on Friday while speaking at the Reuters Momentum AI conference in Austin, Texas. * The increased availability allows for more crude to be processed by the refiner and capture more margins, Perkins said, without providing a number on cost savings. In the latest twist in Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the AI lab's challenge to the government's labeling of it as a supply chain risk. The decision allows the Pentagon to continue to remove Anthropic's Claude models from its systems and bar the use of its products for Defense Department work. Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 in the Pentagon's favor. The dispute between the AI company and the government broke out in February when President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones. “The Department reasonably feared that Anthropic might manipulate Claude’s design to prevent it from performing national-security functions that the Department deems contractually authorized and necessary,” Judge Gregory G. Katsas wrote in the majority opinion. Kansas City Federal Reserve President Jeff Schmid has raised concerns about whether the rapid expansion of the artificial intelligence industry and data-centre investment could eventually create an ecosystem so interconnected and economically significant that it becomes “too big to fail.” Speaking about the AI boom, Schmid said the Federal Reserve needs to better understand the network of companies, financing arrangements and contracts developing around the technology as investment accelerates. (Read More) Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the United States accepts its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which calls for steps including the lifting of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the waterway would remain closed until “all of Iran’s conditions are met” by the United States. Under Iran’s proposal, Tehran has offered to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. Within seven days, hostilities would end on all fronts, including Lebanon, the United States would lift its blockade on Iranian ports, release Iran’s frozen funds and waive its oil sanctions, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday. US Treasury yields set fresh multi-decade highs on Friday even as easing oil prices offered some relief, with traders still pricing in further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose 5.5 basis points to 5.217% and reached 5.2297%, the highest since 2007. It is on track for the biggest weekly yield increase since May. The 30-year bond yield rose 6.32 basis points to 5.5252%, the highest since 2004. It is headed for the biggest weekly increase since the tariff turmoil of April 2025. Oil prices fell about 1% as markets weighed the possibility of a truce between the US and Iran against concerns that increasing attacks against Saudi Arabia by Houthi fighters could disrupt supply from the Middle Eastern producer. But the move failed to stabilise bonds, which saw their yields rise to the highest levels since the financial crisis on persistent worries about higher inflation. President Donald Trump said he had a "very productive meeting" with President Xi Jinping. Trump made it clear to Xi that Chinese help for Iran was unacceptable, said the US ambassador to China. China's Xi Jinping said on Friday that the U.S.-China relationship will be one of strategic stability based on respect, fairness and reciprocity. Speaking through a translator at the White House, Xi added that he and Trump had agreed to add new substance to the U.S.-China relationship. Gold prices edged lower on Friday and were headed for a weekly loss, as concerns about sticky inflation, hawkish signals from Federal Reserve policymakers, and higher US Treasury yields dented bullion's appeal. Spot gold was down 0.1% at $4,274.94 per ounce by 11:45 a.m. ET (1545 GMT). Prices were headed for a weekly loss, down about 2.4% so far. US gold futures rose 0.3% to $4,310.10. Gold is traditionally considered an inflation hedge and a safe investment during geopolitical uncertainty. However, higher interest rates tarnish its attractiveness as investors turn to yield-bearing assets. Bullion has fallen about 19% from its February 27 session high. US natural gas futures fell about 4.6% on Friday on forecasts for less demand next week than previously expected and a perception in the market that the problem with the Mountaineer Xpress pipe in West Virginia will be fixed relatively soon. On their second-to-last day as the front month, gas futures for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 15.1 cents, or 4.6%, to $3.146 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Futures for November, which will soon be the front-month, were down about 5% to $3.19 per mmBtu. For the week, the front-month was up about 8% after gaining about 3% last week. The Brightline companies that bet more than $5 billion on developing the nation's only privately held passenger railroad are reworking their debt in bankruptcy court, but the bright yellow trains will continue running between Miami and Orlando. This financial move does not affect Brightline's sister company Brightline West, which is working to build a high-speed railroad between Las Vegas and a stop outside Los Angeles in Southern California. The deal that Brightline worked out with its creditors will allow the railroad to borrow $490 million more as it works to attract enough riders to pay all of its bills. Assured Guaranty said on Friday that the financing commitments include $350 million of new junior debt and $140 million of additional senior debt. A federal appeals court on Friday declined to block a Defense Department order blacklisting Anthropic from government contracts and deeming the AI startup a national security risk. The ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit came in a lawsuit by Anthropic challenging its designation by the Pentagon as a national security supply chain risk, which the startup says has cost it billions of dollars in lost business and damaged its reputation ahead of a highly anticipated initial public offering. The designation has been blocked by a judge overseeing a separate legal challenge in California federal court. Euro zone government bond yields were on track for their seventh consecutive weekly rise on Friday as higher energy prices and increasingly hawkish signals from central banks pushed up expectations for policy rates. Oil prices fell slightly — as markets weighed the possibility of a truce between the US and Iran against the bombing of Saudi Arabia by Houthi fighters in Yemen — but were set to end the week up by more than 2%. Euro area benchmark Bund yields were up 1.7 basis points at 3.6249%, around their highest level since June 2009, while being set for an almost 11-bp weekly rise. The German 2-year yield, more sensitive to policy rate expectations, was flat at 3.2868%, after hitting 3.3269% the day before, its highest level since September 2023. French and Italian bonds diverged this week, as French debt remained under pressure while Italian government bonds staged a modest recovery. The U.S. Supreme Court revived on Friday an expanded immigration database that President Donald Trump's administration said aims to combat voting by noncitizens but critics contend could disenfranchise eligible voters. The justices granted the Justice Department's request to block a judge's order that had stopped state officials from using Social Security numbers and other information to conduct sweeping checks of the citizenship status of registered voters against federal records. The administration's data-sharing arrangement is one in a series of actions boosting the federal government's involvement in voting ahead of November's midterm elections in which Trump's fellow Republicans seek to maintain control of Congress. The U.S. Constitution gives individual states the primary authority to run and administer elections. Production of Ford Motor's most important vehicle, its F-150 pickup truck, is down for nearly a week at a Detroit-area plant, according to a memo viewed by Reuters. All production crews at Dearborn Truck Plant were canceled starting Thursday, through Tuesday, September 29, the memo said. Production of the F-150 truck at other plants was also affected. Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant canceled some shifts this week due to the same issue impacting Dearborn, a person familiar with the matter said. Kentucky Truck Plant near Louisville increased F-150 production to make up for losses elsewhere, the person said. New orders for key US-manufactured capital goods increased more than expected in August and data for the prior month was revised sharply higher, pointing to another quarter of robust growth in business spending on equipment amid an artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout. The upbeat report from the Commerce Department on Friday followed on the heels of a survey this week from S&P Global showing an acceleration in business activity in September. But concerns are emerging over the sustainability of the AI-driven growth spurt. Some industry leaders have called for regulation of AI. Rising oil prices, interest rates and long-term US Treasury yields because of the Middle East conflict will hurt manufacturing that is not tied to AI, some economists warned. Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid said that as the artificial intelligence boom unfolds it will be important for the Fed to understand if the network of firms and contracts developing in the industry is becoming so large it is too big to fail. "Where we have to start to really synthesize what's happening in the AI and the data center build-out is are we moving to a too-big-to-fail AI ecosystem," he said, referring to the need for public bailouts of major financial institutions during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis because of their size and influence on the broader economy. The US Federal Reserve is working on a plan to raise the asset thresholds that trigger stricter oversight of big banks, four people with knowledge of the matter said, which would allow some lenders to avoid costly additional regulation and potentially spur consolidation. The central bank is expected to soon propose reindexing the thresholds where banks become subject to stress tests of their balance sheets, liquidity, capital and other more stringent rules, to account for inflation and economic growth, the people said. Three of the people said they expect the Fed to propose the changes later this year. Russia could quickly restart up to 80% of its grain terminal capacity in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov if diplomatic efforts to halt mutual attacks by Russia and Ukraine result in a ceasefire, a Reuters analysis of industry data showed on Friday. But three terminals accounting for about 20% of Russia's grain export infrastructure in the area have suffered heavy damage and could take months to repair, the analysis showed. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is leading an international effort by grain-importing countries to restore Black Sea grain trade, which has been stalled by attacks on ports and vessels in recent months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that India, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries were also involved. The Kremlin acknowledged diplomatic contacts but said Russia was finding alternate export routes in the meantime. Output was halted this week at a crude distillation unit and the fluid catalytic cracker of Venezuela's 310,000 barrel-per-day Cardon refinery, the country's second largest, due to insufficient feedstock, three workers from the facility said. As of Friday, the neighboring Cardon and Amuay refineries, which are part of the PDVSA-operated 955,000-bpd Paraguana Refining Center on Venezuela's western coast, were processing some 257,000 bpd of crude or about 27% of their combined capacity, below the 30% of early September, the people said. Microsoft shares rose 3% and were the biggest boost to the S&P 500 after the software giant unveiled several new capabilities in its Copilot app, including a coding tool and an always-on AI agent. Chip makers Micron and Marvell Technology gained about 1% each, while Nvidia was marginally higher. The yen was on track for its strongest daily performance in nearly three weeks on Friday after Japanese officials highlighted concerns over the currency’s weakness during discussions with their US counterparts, Bloomberg reported. The yen strengthened as much as 1.2% to 156.98 per dollar, outperforming all other Group-of-10 currencies. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described an undervalued yen as “problematic” during a meeting with US President Donald Trump, adding to market caution over the possibility of currency intervention to support the yen. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also reaffirmed during virtual talks on Friday that the yen’s undervaluation remains an issue, Kyodo reported, citing Katayama’s comments to reporters. Two Iran-linked oil supertankers intercepted by US naval forces early in the war are now just weeks away from reaching the US, where authorities have said they intend to seize the vessels and the millions of dollars’ worth of crude they are carrying, Bloomberg reported. The unusual voyage involves Iranian oil, which has been banned in the US for decades, and highlights the unexpected disruptions caused by the seven-month conflict between Washington and Tehran. Tifani and Majestic X, both boarded by US forces in the Indian Ocean in April after President Donald Trump imposed a blockade aimed at pressuring Iran to end the war, have spent the past week sailing along the coast of Brazil, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. A third interdicted vessel was also tracked heading west into the Atlantic after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Iran has offered to reopen the strategically important Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations with the US within seven days, provided Washington agrees to its conditions, according to CNBC. The proposal comes amid escalating tensions across the Middle East, with the Houthis launching missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia and shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falling to just nine vessel transits. The diplomatic initiative comes as US President Donald Trump holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while Beijing seeks to help ease the nearly seven-month-long conflict between the US and Iran. “If certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz will be open at the end of seven days, and talks will be restarted,” Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the General Assembly, according to CNBC. BP studied a possible deal to buy Devon Energy's operations in South Texas, four sources familiar with the matter said, with one of the sources adding it has now backed away from such a move. After years of prioritizing investments in renewable energy, and leadership churn that included five chief executives since 2020, London-headquartered BP has reverted to a strategy that places its traditional oil and gas business at its heart. Since Meg O'Neill joined as CEO in April, BP has entered the data room on a small number of shale assets placed for sale, allowing the company access to confidential information provided to prospective buyers so they can evaluate the merits of a deal, according to six sources. Peace prospects "took a huge backward leap following bellicose speeches from both sides at the UN General Assembly in New York," said a note from David Morrison at Trade Nation. "But it appears that the tone has softened, and this has been reflected by a drop in oil prices and the US dollar." Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held a call on Friday, reaffirming that yen undervaluation is matter of concern and that the two nations intend to strengthen cooperation, Japan's Finance Ministry said in a statement. The United States is expected to release details on the outcome of trade negotiations with China on Monday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday. President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday for the second meeting this year of the leaders of the world's two biggest economies. "We're in a managed trade situation ... we've had progress, and we will release on Monday, I think, a lot more details about what we've accomplished over the past few weeks in negotiating with the Chinese," he told CNBC. Microsoft on Friday unveiled several new capabilities in its Copilot app, including a coding tool and an always-on AI agent, as the software giant seeks to transform its AI assistant into a one-stop shop for office workers. The company is also embedding its Office applications Word, Excel, and PowerPoint directly within Copilot, allowing users to work collaboratively on these apps without having to leave the AI tool. Shares of the Redmond, Washington-based company rose about 3% in early trading. The European Union's executive arm said Friday it's prepared to defend a 120 million euro ($137 million) fine against the social media platform X after the U.S. government threw its support behind a legal effort by Elon Musk this week to have the case dismissed. The European Commission fined X late last year for breaches of the bloc’s landmark digital regulations, stoking tensions with Washington. The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it had filed an application to support X's bid to have the case annulled at the European Union's General Court. It was the second time in three months that the Justice Department has intervened to defend a company owned by Musk. A cooldown in oil prices on Friday is helping to release some of the pressure that’s built up on Wall Street, and U.S. stocks are ticking higher. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 1.7 per cent to USD 98.52 per barrel, remaining below the USD 100 mark although it's still well above the roughly USD 72 per barrel level in late February before the start of the war. The US-China summit, which has been closely followed, did not offer any sign of a major breakthrough between the superpowers, other than the extension of their trade truce until January 10. Meta shares were set for a fifth straight week of gains — their biggest five-week advance since late January 2023 — putting the social media giant less than 1% away from the $2 trillion market value mark. Akamai T
Business News›Markets›US Stocks›Wall St Guide›Dow Jones| Nasdaq | US Stock Market Today | Highlights: Dow Jones ends 400 pts higher amid rise in Treasury yields, crude prices LIVE BLOG Dow soars 500 pts amid rising Treasury yields, crude prices Synopsis Dow Jones Today | Nasdaq | S&P 500 Highlights: According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 37.96 points, or 0.49%, to end at 7,742.09 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 125.51 points, or 0.47%, to 27,064.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 469.07 points, or 0.91%, to 51,819.05. A report that US and Iranian negotiators continued to explore a phased path out of the war, which would involve Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade, helped market sentiment. Wall Street ended higher on Friday, lifted by Microsoft and other AI-related technology stocks, while high oil prices and a recent surge in US Treasury yields kept investors on edge. 1 New Update Wall Street ended higher on Friday, lifted by Microsoft and other AI-related technology stocks, while high oil prices and a recent surge in US Treasury yields kept investors on edge. The S&P 500 gained 37.96 points, or 0.49%, to end at 7,742.09 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 125.51 points, or 0.47%, to 27,064.88. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 469.07 points, or 0.91%, to 51,819.05. (Read More) Treasury-market volatility is heading for its biggest weekly increase in more than a year after bond yields climbed to multi-decade highs, jolting a market that had recently been relatively calm. The ICE BofA MOVE Index, a widely followed gauge of US bond-market volatility, has surged about 29.69% this week. That would mark its biggest weekly increase since last April’s so-called Liberation Day, when sweeping import tariffs announced by President Donald Trump triggered turmoil across global markets. The index has now climbed to levels last seen in March, shortly after the Iran war began. The sharp swings have prompted many traders to stay on the sidelines. Adam Kurpiel, head of rates strategy at Societe Generale SA, said his team is neutral on US interest rates and is waiting “for volatility to subside before initiating trades.” The administration of US President Donald Trump has asked OpenAI and Anthropic PBC not to provide new artificial intelligence models to the UK’s flagship AI testing agency without prior review by US authorities, according to a Bloomberg report. According to a Politico report confirmed to Bloomberg by a British official, the Trump administration wants to ensure that US-developed AI models meet security requirements before being shared with allies and partners, including the UK. OpenAI declined to comment, while Anthropic and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The development highlights a challenge for UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham as he seeks to position Britain as an “honest broker” among countries developing advanced AI technology. During his visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Burnham promoted Britain’s AI Security Institute as a potential leader in AI regulation and safety. UK government officials played down the potential impact of the request, saying the US and UK continue to work closely on AI security. They also stressed that Britain remains a “world leader” in the field. The dollar declined on Friday as oil prices eased, but was set for a second straight weekly advance on growing rate hike bets, while the yen rallied after Japan said Tokyo and Washington remain steadfast to the stance behind July's joint intervention. The dollar was on track to snap a four-day streak of gains as crude prices slumped more than 2%. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against five other currencies, fell 0.3% and was on track for its biggest daily percentage drop in about three weeks, to 100.95. The euro was up 0.15% at $1.1396 but on pace for a third straight weekly decline, its longest run since the start of the year. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said on Friday that surging bond yields are not being pushed up by inflation fears. When it comes to the jump in government bond yields, “it’s real rates that have moved up more than the inflation expectations,” Hammack said at a conference at her bank. “We're reasonably well anchored from an inflation expectations perspective” and rising bond yields reflect a solid economic outlook, competition for investor cash due to strong tech sector investment, as well as market participants adjusting prices to deal with the monetary policy outlook, the official said. Iran’s president welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s support for returning to the Islamabad memorandum of understanding. Joe Lonsdale, an investor in Anthropic and the co-founder of technology company Palantir , said on Friday that efforts by some leading artificial intelligence companies to warn of existential risks from AI amounted to a dangerous attempt to shape public policy. Lonsdale, also founder of venture capital firm 8VC, criticized what he described as efforts by people close to Anthropic and at OpenAI to fund outside groups advocating stronger AI regulation, which he argued could help a small number of leading companies shape the rules governing the industry and entrench their market power. "I think that what OpenAI and Anthropic are pushing right now is very dangerous, and we don't want an oligopoly that controls all of our policy here with the government," Lonsdale said at the Reuters Momentum AI Austin event. "Safety is a real thing, but fear and regulation — we've got to be really careful how we respond to those things." The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Mirum Pharmaceuticals' drug to treat a rare bone disorder, the regulator said on Friday. Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said on Friday she is increasingly worried that inflation that has overshot the central bank’s 2% target for years will cause the public to lose confidence that price pressures will return to target. “The biggest risk that I see with inflation right now is that an inflationary mindset could start to set in,” with inflation over target for more than five years, Hammack said at an event at her bank. She added the Fed has a role to play, saying, “We need to make sure that policy is at a restrictive stance to help bring things back down to target.” Startup DaVoice has sued Perplexity AI in California federal court for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to "wake word" technology for AI assistants. * The heavily redacted complaint filed on Thursday said that Perplexity stole DaVoice's secrets after the companies collaborated on unspecified technology "built with DaVoice’s proprietary source code, inference logic, network architecture, training approaches, training data, and know-how" * A Perplexity spokesperson on Friday called the lawsuit "a baseless attempt to claim ownership of standard wake-word technology" and said the companies' agreement "expressly protects our right to develop our own 'similar, equal or competitive products or services.'" Diesel prices appear likely to stay high due to reduced refining capacity, raising broader gauges of inflation in the euro zone, European Central Bank Vice President Boris Vujcic said on Friday. "Energy prices, particularly diesel, will probably stay high for long and that will feed into the inflation because diesel is really in many products," he told an event at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Nike-owned sneaker brand Converse told employees it is pausing all marketing this week after an earlier advertisement sparked outrage for evoking imagery of the Ku Klux Klan and lynching, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the decision. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Nike did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Converse pulled the advertisement after facing public backlash last week and apologized, saying "we got this wrong." Scott Bessent will not be Donald Trump's AI czar, the Republican president said on Friday, adding that he wants his US Treasury secretary to remain in his current role. "Scott Bessent will not be going to be Super Intelligence (SI) Czar. Number One, he doesn’t want to. Number Two, he’s doing such a great job at Treasury, and that’s where I want to keep him! Why would I ever make such a change?" Trump said in a social media post, using his preferred term for artificial intelligence. Last week, Trump said he plans to appoint an artificial intelligence adviser, known as an "AI czar," and create an "AI force," though he gave no details about either initiative or how they would be implemented. Meta Platforms Inc. is finally delivering the stock breakout that long-suffering bulls had been waiting for. Shares of the Facebook parent has surged 36% in September through Thursday’s close following the launch of its Muse personal AI assistant. The app has quickly climbed to the top of app charts, helping ease investor concerns that the company’s heavy AI spending may not generate sufficient returns, according to a Bloomberg report. Meta’s stock is now on track for its strongest monthly performance since July 2013, bringing the company within striking distance of joining the elite group of businesses valued at $2 trillion or more. Meta Platforms is adding a clearer safety warning within Muse after a security researcher discovered a vulnerability in the AI agent that could let an attacker access a user's sensitive personal information, the Information reported on Friday. A New Mexico jury on Friday found Facebook liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the social media platform. It is now up to the judge to determine how much the company would pay, with attorneys representing the state asking for the maximum $5,000 penalty per violation. The two-week trial in Santa Fe centered on accusations that Facebook deceived users about a data breach stemming from a third-party personality quiz that harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, to generate targeted ads. The now-defunct firm’s clients included the 2016 campaign for Donald Trump. Jurors sided with prosecutors, finding Facebook’s failure to protect users' data impacted New Mexico’s entire population of more than two million people. Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about investigations into data brokers following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, finding the company liable for over two million violations. Phillips 66 is using artificial intelligence to predict outages within its refining systems, save on maintenance costs and increase crude processing, said Tandra Perkins, an executive vice president at the US refiner. * "I need my systems up more than they're down, being able to predict that obviously saves on maintenance costs," Perkins said on Friday while speaking at the Reuters Momentum AI conference in Austin, Texas. * The increased availability allows for more crude to be processed by the refiner and capture more margins, Perkins said, without providing a number on cost savings. In the latest twist in Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the AI lab's challenge to the government's labeling of it as a supply chain risk. The decision allows the Pentagon to continue to remove Anthropic's Claude models from its systems and bar the use of its products for Defense Department work. Judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 in the Pentagon's favor. The dispute between the AI company and the government broke out in February when President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down
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