Apple and other big U.S. companies reporting fatter profits than expected are helping Wall Street shave off more of its sharp losses from the start of the week on Friday.
The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in early trading. It's on track for just a 0.1% weekly loss after tumbling Monday on worries the artificial-intelligence boom that’s sent it to records may not require as much investment as thought. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 87 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% higher.
Apple helped lead the market and rose 3.2% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Wall Street’s most valuable company, and thus the most influential on the S&P 500 and other indexes, said sales of its iPhone sales dipped. But revenue for its services businesses, such as AppleCare and its app store, rose to a record.
KLA, a supplier to the electronics industry, rose 1.8% after reporting profit and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations. It credited expanding artificial-intelligence and high-performance computing investments, and it clawed back more of its sharp 6.3% drop for Monday. That’s when tech stocks around the world tumbled, after a Chinese upstart, DeepSeek, said it developed a large language model capable of competing with the world’s best, without having to use top-flight chips.
The disruption raised questions about whether all the investment expected for AI chips, data centers and electricity is really needed.
U.S. stocks also got some help Friday from a relatively calm bond market, where rising Treasury yields had been cranking up the pressure in recent months.
Treasury yields held relatively steady after an update on the measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve prefers to use came in almost exactly as economists expected. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.51% from 4.52% late Thursday.
Yields have been generally climbing since September as the U.S. economy has remained much more solid than economists expected. More recently, worries about tariffs and other possible policies coming from President Donald Trump that could add upward pressure on inflation and the U.S. government’s debt have also sent yields higher.
Trump has said tariffs of 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico could begin as soon as Saturday.
On Wall Street, Walgreens Boots Alliance dropped 14.1% after suspending its dividend and breaking a streak of quarterly payouts to its shareholders that stretches back more than 90 years.
Exxon Mobil ticked down 1.2% even though the energy giant posted a stronger fourth quarter profit than Wall Street had forecast. Exxon credited increased production in the U.S. Permian basin and in Guyana for the strong results, but its revenue came in lower than expected.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were modestly higher in Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 0.1% after a report showed that the country’s core inflation rate topped the central bank’s 2% target, paving the way for further hikes to interest rates.
The Kospi in South Korea fell 0.8% after trading resumed their following holidays. Markets remained closed in Hong Kong and Shanghai for the Lunar New Year.
Zimo Zhong And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
