Wall Street today: US stocks gain marginally as volatile week set to end

US stock indices gained marginally on Friday, as the volatile week is set to end.

This week witnessed rout in stock markets on concerns about the US economy slipping into recession.

A raft of weaker-than-expected earnings reports also weighed on the markets.

At 11:25 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.77 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 39,482.26, the S&P 500 gained 12.41 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 5,331.72 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 27.66 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 16,687.68.

At 09:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 133.28 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 39,313.21, the S&P 500 lost 6.27 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 5,313.04 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 15.13 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 16,644.89

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38.4 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 39,408.06. The S&P 500 fell 4.7 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 5,314.66, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 23.5 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 16,636.522.

On Thursday, Federal Reserve policymakers said that they were confident that inflation was cooling enough to allow interest rate cuts ahead, and will take their cues on the size and timing of those cuts from the economic data.

Expedia stock jumped 8 per cent after the online travel company reported better than expected results for second quarter.

Paramount Global stock rose 4.7 per cent after strong growth at streaming business.

The Trade Desk stock added 4.1 per cent after the ad tech firm forecast strong third quarter revenue.

Megacap stocks were mixed, with Alphabet down over 1 per cent and Amazon.com up 0.6 per cent.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.93 per cent from 3.99 per cent late on Thursday.

Crude oil

Oil prices edged higher on Friday on fears of a widening Middle East conflict.

Brent crude futures were up 32 cents, or 0.4 per cent, at $79.48 a barrel by 1225 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 38 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $76.57.

Bullion

Gold prices fell on Friday as the jobs data eased concerns on US recession.

Spot gold was down 0.1 per cent to $2,425.34 per ounce, as of 1155 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.1 per cent at $2,464.60. Spot silver was down 0.3 per cent to $27.49 per ounce.