US stocks opened mixed on Friday morning, a day after Wall Street posted its best session since early August.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 93 points, or 0.18%. The S&P 500 was little changed, up about 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.33%.
Thursday’s rebound, in context
The Fed’s first rate hike in three years rattled markets Wednesday.
Stocks bounced back hard on Thursday.
The Dow rose 316.14 points, or 0.61%, to close at 51,778.04.
The S&P 500 gained 1.14% to 7,637.76.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.69% to 26,418.30.
Falling Treasury yields and cooling oil prices helped drive the rebound, alongside gains in Nvidia, Amazon and Microsoft.
Yields stay elevated
The 10-year Treasury yield rose more than 3 basis points to 4.98% Friday morning.
It had climbed above 5% earlier this week, its highest level since July 2007, before easing back Thursday.
Elevated yields are weighing on stocks again this morning, even after Thursday’s relief rally.
Buffett steps back at Berkshire
Berkshire Hathaway announced Friday that Warren Buffett is stepping down as chairman.
He will become chairman emeritus and remain on the board, continuing to advise the company.
His son, Howard Buffett, will take over as chairman, a transition long signaled by the company.
Meyer Shields, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said in a note that he expects “some pressure” on Berkshire’s shares Friday following the announcement.
Buffett has led Berkshire since 1965, delivering a 19.7% compounded annual return, roughly double the S&P 500’s return over that period.
Triple witching adds to the mix
Friday is also a “triple witching” day, when stock options, stock index futures, and index options all expire simultaneously.
It happens four times a year, on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December.
The event can produce unusually heavy trading volume and sharp, late-session index swings, unrelated to any actual news.
Netflix slides on downgrade as Intel, IREN ride analyst upgrades
Netflix shares fell more than 5% in trading after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal Weight, its first-ever sell-equivalent rating on Netflix, and slashed its price target to $57 from $80.
Intel shares rose 0.6% to $109.54, extending a rally that began Wednesday on reports of exploratory talks with SK Hynix over manufacturing memory chips in the US, possibly through Intel’s planned Ohio fab.
IREN gained about 2.6% in trading after Northland Capital initiated coverage on the stock, adding it to a growing list of AI-infrastructure names drawing fresh Wall Street attention this week.
Elsewhere in markets
Gold futures rose 0.41% to $4,356.69 an ounce.
Silver futures jumped 1.89% to $66.42 an ounce.
In Asia, chipmakers including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rallied following a bullish outlook from Nvidia, helping lift the MSCI Asia equities gauge 0.8%.
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