US Stock Indices End Week Lower On Pressure From Elevated Long-Duration Treasury Yields — PSKY, MSTR, WMT, TSLA, NVDA In Focus

• The S&P 500 ended Friday 0.4% higher, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1%.
• S&P 500 and Nasdaq end week lower, breaking a three-week win streak.
• Bitcoin rallied for a fifth straight day, soaring as much as 9.4%.

US stock indices climbed higher on Friday amid positive business-activity data, but ended the week lower as elevated Treasury yields weighed on risk sentiment.  

The S&P 500 ended Friday 0.4% higher, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1%. The Russell 2000, which tracks stocks with small market capitalizations, gained 0.9%.

However, all three benchmark indices ended the week lower, with long-duration yields (US30Y) rising for the second consecutive week, primarily owing to the Treasury Department’s plan to buy back bonds. 

Among ETFs tracking benchmark indexes, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) rose 0.4%, and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ended Friday 0.3% higher, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) was up 1%.

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 0.5%, with Micron Tech (MU) and Nvidia (NVDA) leading declines. The broader Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) inched 0.1% higher.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for QQQ, SPY, and DIA was ‘bearish’ with ‘high’ message volumes. 

US Market Drivers

Investor confidence got a mild boost on Friday after an S&P Global gauge showed U.S. business activity grew at its fastest pace in more than four years. 

In parallel, Bitcoin extended its winning streak to a fifth consecutive day, jumping as much as 9.4% to top $79,000—its sharpest single-day gain since February. Shares of Strategy Inc. advanced 6.1%, with other crypto-adjacent stocks following suit.

“The strong trigger in Bitcoin was driven by the Treasury’s move to buy back bonds at the longer end of the yield curve,” Bernstein analysts wrote in a note, referring to the Treasury Department’s announcements this week. “We are not macro experts, but we do know Bitcoin historically has had a positive reaction to liquidity expansion.”

On Friday, longer-dated yields continued their ascent, with the 10-year Treasury note yield gaining more than 3 basis points to 4.734%. The 30-year Treasury bond yield also advanced more than 3 basis points to 5.273%. 

Key Trending Stocks

Paramount Skydance (PSKY): California Governor Gavin Newsom has reportedly said he would prefer a settlement of the state attorney general’s lawsuit opposing Paramount Skydance Corp.’s (PSKY) $110-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD) 

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA): The chipmaker reached an agreement to license artificial intelligence software from startup Poolside for $6 billion and plans to extend employment opportunities to more than 100 of the firm's staff, according to a report by Bloomberg. 

Walmart (WMT): Major Wall Street brokerages are advising investors to capitalize on Walmart’s steepest stock drop in four years, maintaining that the retail giant’s long-term growth story remains intact. 

Strategy (MSTR): Bitcoin’s (BTC) move above $77,000 pushed the company’s massive Bitcoin holdings back into unrealized profit. 

Tesla (TSLA): Tesla (TSLA) is set to recall nearly three million Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in China over issues with its emergency mechanical door handles and driver monitoring systems. 

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