AI Rally Supports US Stocks Despite Yield Spike
US stocks held near record levels on Friday as demand for AI-linked shares offset pressure from rising crude oil prices and benchmark Treasury yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 226.73 points to 51,576.71, while the S&P 500 added 22.49 points to 7,726.62.
MICROSOFT led the charge with a 3% gain after unveiling new capabilities in its Copilot application, including a coding tool and an always-on AI agent. Semiconductor names Micron Technology and Marvell Technology each added around 1%, while Nvidia edged higher.
Akamai Technologies surged 8% after announcing an $11.6 billion cloud services agreement with Anthropic, the AI developer. People, an online services company, jumped 8% following a report that MGM Resorts International was in talks about a potential bid.