(Updates with index/price moves, macroeconomic data, and company/geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes rose amid a broad-based rally that lifted all sectors and strong gains in mega-cap technology names, as investors seemingly whistled past a bear steepening in the yield curve.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6% to 27,346.2, the S&P 500 advanced 0.6% to 7,808.5, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average marched 0.8% higher to 51,632.1.
Healthcare, real estate and consumer discretionary led the gainers. Among stocks with market capitalization exceeding $200 billion, as many as six of the top 10 were technology names, according to data compiled by Finviz. Oracle (ORCL) led the gainers in this mega-cap category, up 4.8%.
In economic news, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index declined to 46.3 in October from 48.1 in September, versus the 47.6 expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. Respondents pegged one-year inflation expectations at 4.7%, up from 4.6% in the previous month, while the five-year figure increased to 3.5% from 3.4%.
"Overall, sentiment for lower-income consumers and those with smaller stock portfolios dropped steeply this month, groups that have fewer resources to weather increases in prices," Michigan said.
The CME FedWatch tool showed that the probability of the Federal Reserve leaving its target rate unchanged in October was 81% on Friday afternoon. However, the market sees a 71% likelihood that the Fed will raise its target rate by 25 basis points in December and assigns a 45% probability of another move higher of the same magnitude in March to ease inflation back to the Fed's 2% target.
Term premium, or the extra payout for the risk of investing in 10-year Treasuries instead of just rolling over short-dated securities for the same amount of time, hit 1.2 percentage points this week, up from 0.68 percentage points a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The move higher reflects concerns about the US fiscal deficit, rising borrowing costs at Treasury auctions, corporate borrowing to fund the massive artificial intelligence infrastructure spend, and stubborn inflation.
Most Treasury yields rose intraday, with a recent acceleration at the long end steepening the yield curve. The two-year jumped 4.4 basis points to 4.80% after midday, the strongest level since about mid-2024. The 10-year rate climbed two basis points to 5.25%, and the 30-year yield was steady at 5.61%. Both the 10- and 30-year yields traded close to their highest levels since 2002.
US President Donald Trump said he'll soon release news concerning diesel and claimed that nearly record-high prices will soon come "tumbling" down, Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported. "We have a big announcement coming up on diesel, I think," the US president said from the White House.
Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract edged 0.1% higher to $91.58 per barrel, and global benchmark Brent little changed at $104.27 per barrel.
In company news, SpaceX (SPCX) shares rose 1% after the rocket and satellite company agreed to acquire a nationwide low-band spectrum portfolio from investment firm Grain Management as it seeks to establish Starlink Mobile as a major US mobile carrier. AT&T (T) shares slumped 10%, Verizon (VZ) dropped 9.7%, and T-Mobile US (TMUS) sank 13.1%. All three stocks were the three worst performers in the S&P 500.
Humana (HUM) shares surged nearly 12%, among the S&P 500's top gainers, after the company affirmed its full-year 2026 guidance of at least $9 in adjusted earnings per common share.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) cut its full-year earnings outlook amid elevated fuel costs, while Q3 results missed analysts' estimates. The carrier's shares declined 1.2%.