Oil pulling back finally gave Wall Street some breathing room. After Brent crude touched $100 a barrel this week for the first time since May, the international benchmark fell 5% Friday to trade below $95, and the retreat let the Dow recover part of Thursday's slide. The Dow rose about 0.5% to 51,947, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.05% to 7,412 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.6% on more tech weakness.
The oil move traced back to diplomacy. Brent came off its highs after Reuters, citing three Pakistani sources, reported that Pakistan is pushing to restart U.S.-Iran talks with China's backing. Earlier in the week, attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea had sent Brent as high as $102 before it settled at $100.69, up 7%.
Lower crude eases the inflation worry that has hung over stocks, since oil raises costs for businesses and cuts into what customers can spend. West Texas Intermediate retreated 2.25% to $90.12. Before the Iran war began in late February, Brent traded around $72.
Chip stocks kept the Nasdaq under pressure even as oil helped everything else. Intel fell despite beating estimates, and other memory and semiconductor names dropped with it.
- Intel shares declined 6.5% as investors looked past a quarterly earnings beat.
- Sandisk dropped almost 11% alongside other memory stocks, while Micron fell 5.7% and Broadcom fell 2.8%.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.68% from 4.71% late Thursday, which relieved some pressure on stocks. Bill Northey of U.S. Bank Asset Management Group said he expects rates to stay unchanged at next week's Fed meeting despite the oil spike.
Traders were reluctant to hold positions into a weekend that could bring more attacks on Iran, with President Trump meeting advisors Friday to decide whether to escalate.
