U.S. stocks were mixed as inflation and Middle East war trepidation offset optimism about the artificial-intelligence boom.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 95.40 points, or 0.18%, to 51682.64. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 12.74 points, or 0.17%, to 7650.50 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 104.25 points, or 0.39%, to 26522.55.
The yield on the two-year Treasury rose 0.054 percentage point to 4.741%, its highest close since July 2024. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 0.049 percentage point to 4.995%, just short of its 19-year highs. The yield on the 30-year bond rose 0.031 percentage point to 5.327%, within four basis points of a multiyear high.
Rising commodity costs and the implications for Federal Reserve policy are keeping upward pressure on Treasury yields.
Oil futures fell 1.6% to $100.30 a barrel as traders awaited Saudi Arabian plans to restore crude exports following attacks on its infrastructure. Bloomberg reported that Saudi officials told at least two European customers that they wouldn't receive crude deliveries next month.
The U.S. dollar strengthened against the Japanese yen, but the broader ICE dollar index was little changed. Gold futures rose $25.70 or 0.6%, to $4385.90 a troy ounce, eking out a gain on the week. Investors gravitated toward precious metals again on the belief that the Fed had gotten its arms around inflation issues.
U.S. industrial production was unchanged between August and July, according to data published by the Fed.
The tech sector led gains as fears about a possible slowdown in artificial-intelligence research faded. One brokerage suggested knee-jerk selling of tech stocks in response to Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei's recent warning about AI safety risks was likely overdone.
"Current proposals appear unlikely to slow AI adoption, but evolving regulatory frameworks could increasingly shape compliance spending, competitive dynamics, and capital allocation across the AI ecosystem," strategists at Jefferies said in a note to clients.
Regulators are unlikely to restrict AI research unless there is "a major incident involving rogue agents or widespread internet disruption," the Jefferies strategists said.
Reports of AI transgressions continued to surface. In the latest breach identified, independent security researchers reportedly used Anthropic's Claude software to gain access to an OpenAI employee's ChatGPT account.
Shares of memory-chip maker SanDisk, a major beneficiary of data-center demand, rose 11% to $1791.82. Rivals such as Micron also gained.
Shares of Netflix retreated 4.7% to $71.79 after analysts at Wells Fargo cut their rating on the streaming service, citing a lackluster slate of programming for the second half of the year. The analysts lowered Netflix to underweight from equal weight and cut their price target on the stock to $57 from $80.
The streaming giant's rival Disney hired Karandeep Anand, the head of AI company Character.AI, to be its first ever chief technology officer, as Chief Executive Josh D'Amaro pushes the entertainment conglomerate deeper into digital territory.
Warren Buffett stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the $1 trillion conglomerate that he has led for more than six decades, to be succeeded by his son Howard.