Tech Stocks Power Gains at End of Jittery Week for Wall Street

Ann Miletti, Head of Equity Investments at Allspring Global Investments, discusses how fiscal stimulus and Fed easing support broader market resilience.

Wall Street is ending a jittery week on a relatively positive note amid renewed enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and signs of continued strength in the main engine of the world’s largest economy.

Equities bounced after data showed consumer sentiment hit a five-month high. Still, the S&P 500 headed toward it first back-to-back weekly drop since June. Nvidia Corp. rose 1.5% as China told tech firms they can prepare orders for H200 chips. Intel Corp. sank 16% on a tepid outlook. Small caps trailed the US stock benchmark after beating it for 14 days.

Treasuries and the dollar wavered. With inflation still above the Fed’s goal, policymakers are widely expected to hold rates steady on Wednesday.

Markets around the world were roiled this week by President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on some European countries over Greenland, before softening his rhetoric as NATO’s chief said a breakthrough over the island was secured.

The European Union will suspend retaliatory tariffs on €93 billion ($109 billion) of US goods for another six months after Trump backed down from his threat to impose levies on some EU countries that opposed his push to annex Greenland.

“This week’s market action is an important reminder for investors to not allow political headlines out of Washington to affect their portfolio, and to be opportunistic when stocks succumb to headline risk,” said Alexander Guiliano at Resonate Wealth Partners. “The stock market is likely to remain headline sensitive for some time.”

The S&P 500 rose to around 6,930. A gauge of megacaps climbed 1.6%. The Russell 2000 fell 1%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries slid one basis point to 4.24%. The dollar headed for its worst week in seven months. The yen gyrated as Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda avoided a clear early rate-hike signal.

Oil rose as traders factored in the possibility of American military action in Iran and a massive winter storm in the US. Gold was set for its biggest weekly advance since 2020. Copper rallied above $13,000 a ton.

As the US earnings season gathers momentum, early results are offering a window into the economic and political crosscurrents shaping Corporate America’s outlook for the year ahead. Stocks are trading at high valuations after the S&P 500 clocked in three straight years of double-digit growth, leaving little room for error.

Earnings resilience and stability in the rates market are crucial for stocks to shrug off geopolitical noise, according to Barclays Plc strategists led by Emmanuel Cau.

A slow start to the earnings season suggests geopolitics isn’t the only driver of stock market volatility, according to RBC Capital Markets strategists led by Lori Calvasina. They noted that analysts’ 2026 earnings growth forecast has fallen slightly while macro commentary remains cautiously optimistic on earnings calls.

There were doubters, all across Wall Street by some accounts, that Tuesday’s stock rout would be short-lived, a pullback not sharp enough to dissuade Trump from waging a trade war with Europe for control of Greenland.

Yet individual investors plowed $4 billion into US equities as the S&P 500 suffered its biggest drawdown in three months, according to data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Another $2.3 billion flowed in on Wednesday, just in time for Trump to unleash a rally by standing down from his tariff bluster.

Corporate Highlights:

Apple Inc. accused the European Commission of using “political delay tactics” to postpone new app policies as a pretense to investigate and fine the iPhone maker.

SLB, the world’s largest oilfield-services provider, raised its dividend and posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates as activity in the Middle East and other key regions accelerated and its data-center business rapidly expanded.

Alcoa Corp. posted earnings that one analyst described as a “low-quality beat.”

--------

Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube

Weekdays 7am-6pm ET

Follow us on X

Subscribe to our Podcasts:

Bloomberg Daybreak

Bloomberg Surveillance

Bloomberg Intelligence

Balance of Power

Bloomberg Businessweek

Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app:

Apple CarPlay

Android Auto

Visit our YouTube channels:

Bloomberg Podcasts

Bloomberg Television

Bloomberg Originals