S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq End Second Week Lower Over Elevated Oil Prices, Chipmaker Rout — PSKY, UBER, QCOM, VZ, INTC In Focus

U.S. stock indices ended mixed on Friday, ending their second consecutive week lower as investors assess big-tech earnings with heightened attention on geopolitical developments.

The S&P 500 ended 0.1% higher, while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 1.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.5% higher. The Russell 2000, which tracks stocks with small market capitalizations, fell 0.1%.

SpaceX dropped about 7% this week, its third consecutive weekly decline as investors turned jittery over bloated capex plans.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY dropped to the ‘extremely bearish’ zone, while sentiment for QQQ was ‘bearish’ and ‘neutral’ for the DIA with ‘high’ message volumes.

Oil prices rebounded from their session lows following a Reuters report that Pakistan is considering a path toward establishing new peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, under an initiative pushed by China.

Earlier this week, Brent crude futures surged past the $100-per-barrel mark for the first time since late May, though they subsequently gave up those gains, sliding nearly 4% to settle at $96.78. Concurrently, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures experienced a 3% decline, ultimately closing at $89.31 per barrel.

However, war risks continue to affect investor mindset. Oil prices, although they eased on Friday, still remain at elevated levels ahead of the Fed policy meeting due next week.

“As we have seen multiple times in the past few years, equity markets tend to overreact to war developments, partly because war events tend to create uncertainty,” Thomas Lee at Fundstrat Global Advisors told Bloomberg. “But these periods of risk-off have been buying opportunities in the past, and we expect this to be the case again.”

Going ahead, market participants will brace for the upcoming financial results from tech giants like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc. (META), and Apple Inc (AAPL). scheduled for next week. Wall Street is seeking more definitive proof that the massive capital investments directed into artificial intelligence are successfully driving fresh growth rather than eroding profit margins.

Paramount Skydance (PSKY): Paramount agreed to freeze its proposed $110-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), putting the media consolidation on hold until June 1, 2027, or until a federal court rules on an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the deal.

Uber Technologies (UBER): Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL) Waymo is exploring options to end its robotaxi partnership with the ride-hailing company.

Verizon Communications (VZ): The telecom operator signed a fiber infrastructure agreement with Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOG, GOOGL) Google worth more than $1 billion, as the telecom giant looks to capitalize on surging demand for data center connectivity driven by artificial intelligence.