After a week of the bond market yanking stocks around, Friday brought something rare: a relatively quiet day. Yields are still elevated, but they stopped lurching. The torrential flow of earnings reports slowed to a trickle.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.76%) leads at 0.89% as of 12:06 p.m. ET. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.48%) is up 0.70% and the S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.47%) has added 0.68%. The gains put the S&P 500 on track for just its second up day in the six sessions since it set a record on Aug. 13.
Calmer bond yields lift the stock market
The whole week ran through the bond market, so it's fitting that a calmer bond market is what turned the beat around.
The 10-year Treasury yield is near 4.7%. That's still high, but it spent Friday bouncing in a narrow range instead of the wild swings that defined the earlier sessions. The calmer financing market gave the stocks most sensitive to interest rates some room to breathe.
The same easing lit a fire under assets that compete with bonds. Bitcoin (BTC +6.69%) jumped 5.9% and crypto-related stocks led the market. For instance, Robinhood (HOOD +13.75%) jumped 11.9% and Coinbase (COIN +8.45%) gained 9.2%. On top of the beneficial yield curve, crypto investors are applauding signs of clearer regulations as the Trump administration holds talks with several industry leaders.
Image source: Getty Images.
Gold rose 2%, as measured by the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD +2.11%) fund. Physical and digital gold are rising in tandem again. Is this the new normal for low-risk assets? Bitcoin investors have expected this kind of trend for years, yet few real-world examples exist. Nowadays, the matching gains are becoming less rare.
Tesla (TSLA +5.28%) was a notable single-stock gainer, up roughly 4%, lifting both the Nasdaq and S&P 500. Investors focused on forward catalysts, including Nevada's approval of up to 5,000 robotaxis in the Las Vegas area and an upcoming European launch of the Tesla Semi. At the same time, Wall Street seemed to ignore Tesla recalling millions of vehicles in China. The fixes involve software updates and warning stickers, so there's no huge financial hit expected. Still, two recalls of roughly 3 million Tesla vehicles each can't be good for Tesla's PR image in that massive market. The stock remains down about 21% for the year.
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Wall Street would like to forget this week
It may sound strange to have bonds driving the action on the stock market, but that's the deal this week.
Long-term yields hit their highest since before the 2008 crisis, pushed up by ballooning deficits, a mountain of AI-related corporate borrowing, and a war that won't let oil prices settle.
Earnings provided a counterweight. Companies keep beating expectations, which is why stocks hit record highs this month. At the same time, some heavyweights crushed expectations but still suffered price cuts due to modest guidance or slowing growth trends. The earnings-and-revenue headline figures aren't always the whole story, and investors are paying close attention to forward-looking statements in 2026.
