Wall Street drifted lower on Friday afternoon, weighed down by sharp losses in the technology sector as investors processed key US inflation data and rising bond yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1 percent to 52,245 points, de.marketscreener.com reported. The broader S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent to 7,540 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes slid by up to 1.6 percent. Pressure centered firmly on major technology equities. Nvidia shares tumbled 3.4 percent ahead of the artificial intelligence firm’s quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, while Advanced Micro Devices shares fell 10.6 percent and Coreweave dropped 8.6 percent.
The losses coincided with climbing yields in the US Treasury market, which increase financing costs for corporate expansion. The yield on ten-year US government debt rose 3 basis points to 5.14 percent. Microsoft shares edged up 0.2 percent after initial losses, as the company reported steady progress in restoring its disrupted systems.
US producer prices for October fell slightly below economists’ monthly expectations while matching consensus estimates for the core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy costs. Despite the cooler monthly reading, the data reinforced market expectations that the US central bank will raise interest rates by 25 basis points at its December meeting.
Data from LSEG showed money markets priced a 91 percent probability of a 25-basis-point rate increase, up from 86 percent previously. The probability of a larger 50-basis-point hike dropped from 14 percent to 9 percent.
Those rate bets were further underpinned by rising oil prices following comments from US President Donald Trump that the United States did not need an agreement with Iran. Brent crude traded down 0.3 percent at $95.57 per barrel on Friday, remaining volatile after recent gains.
Against this backdrop, the US dollar index gained 0.2 percent, supported by the growing certainty around Federal Reserve monetary tightening. Gold prices rose 0.2 percent to $3,885 per ounce, experiencing a modest rebound from recent losses despite headwinds from the stronger dollar and higher borrowing costs.
Technology companies delivered mixed financial results even as market valuations retreated. Cisco Systems raised its full-year outlook following strong quarterly revenue and profit growth driven by demand for agentic artificial intelligence.
However, Cisco shares fell 6.0 percent as investors locked in profits following the stock’s strong yearly gains, alongside pressure from narrowing profit margins.
Applied Materials shares dropped 5.0 percent despite reporting surging fourth-quarter profit and revenue powered by AI-driven semiconductor demand.
Attention now turns to the upcoming initial public offering of Anthropic on Thursday. The developer of the Claude AI assistant plans to issue 825 million shares at a price between $70 and $78 each.
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