Stocks were mostly lower on Friday morning as big tech stocks continued to fall and the S&P 500 index fell below the 5,000 mark.
The S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) fell about 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) fell more than 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.4%.
The S&P 500 fell for the fifth day in a row on Thursday as investors absorbed disappointing returns from Netflix (NFLX). This weighed on hopes that quarterly profits would meet high expectations leading to a rebound in stock price gains. Shares of the streaming giant, the first among big-cap tech companies to report, fell 7% during morning trading.
Other tech stocks followed suit. Market favorite Nvidia (NVDA) fell more than 3%, while Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) fell more than 1%.
The market rebounded from a deeper decline after Israel's retaliatory attacks on Iran spooked traders overnight, prompting a rush to safe-haven assets such as gold. However, although Iran acknowledged the drone attack and called it a failure, investors remain on high alert.
Stocks were already under pressure before the shock due to persistent uncertainty over whether the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates.
Procter & Gamble (PG) released its financial results on Friday, raising its full-year profit forecast despite missing quarterly sales estimates. Additionally, American Express (AXP) reportedly beat profits as its wealthy customers continued to spend.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasuries have rebounded almost entirely from their biggest rally this year. The yield on the safe-haven 10-year US Treasury (^TNX) fell 14 basis points to trade around 4.6%.
In the commodity market, Brent crude oil futures (BZ=F), the world oil benchmark, traded around $87 per barrel, up about 0.4%. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures (CL=F) rose 0.5% to about $83 a barrel. Gold (GC=F) rose 0.3%, but growth slowed slightly after its early gains.
live6 updates