A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on July 30, 2026 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
U.S. stocks whipsawed on Friday, eventually resuming their earlier rally as bond yields jumped and investors digested earnings from hyperscalers, including Apple.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%, while the S&P 500 ticked up 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded up 228 points, or 0.5%.
The 30-year Treasury bond yield spiked to its highest levels since 2007 this week. It last traded around 5.26%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield advanced to above 4.7% on the day, its highest level since January 2025.
The moves come as investors lost faith in Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh’s commitment to curb inflation, leading yields to jump. While Warsh indicated he is committed to the inflation fight, he did say this week, “We’ve got no magic wand.”
“As [yields] moves toward 5 percent, 5 percent is perhaps a level that will cause angst for sentiment and pressure valuations,” Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bancorp Asset Management, told CNBC.
The strategist underscored that this “is a roller coaster market filled with angst and opportunity.”
“On one hand, there’s much to like about the market environment. Inflation is relatively steady, interest rates are range bound, and earnings are robust,” Sandven said. “Conversely, you’ve got Middle East conflict, the Middle East conflict that continues, and that’s pushing oil prices higher, which of course is inflationary.”
Hyperscaler and other artificial intelligence-related companies’ earnings also colored investor sentiment.
Apple was more than 9% lower. The firm’s fiscal third-quarter revenue topped expectations, helped by a 22% jump in iPhone sales, though a shortfall in service revenue pushed its stock lower.
Amazon, in contrast, surged 11% after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter revenue. The results, which were aided by the strength of its cloud-computing business, reinforced investor confidence in artificial intelligence spending.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) jumped 5.4%, led by gains in Micron and AMD. That advance builds on the fund’s 8.5% advance from Thursday — which was its best since April 9, 2025.
The moves followed a powerful rally during Thursday’s session led by Microsoft — which jumped 16% after the software giant posted stronger-than-expected Azure cloud growth. The recovery came after a bruising session on Wednesday, when the Dow plunged more than 1,100 points, its worst one-day decline since April 2025.
Despite the week’s sharp swings, the major averages remained on track to finish higher. The Dow was up about 0.9% for the week, along with the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Composite was ahead about 1.2%.
However, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were headed for monthly losses, while the Dow was up marginally for July.
