NEW YORK — Lower oil prices are helping the U.S. stock market rise to the finish of a record-setting week on Friday, but financial markets remain indecisive. The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent and clawed back some of its two straight days of losses since setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116 points, or 0.2 per cent, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5 per cent higher. The moves were tentative as oil prices continue to yo-yo because of uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal. The price for a barrel of Brent crude bounced between US$102.50 and US$104 several times overnight and in the morning, and it was most recently at US$103.13, down 1.1 per cent. Treasury yields flipped up and down in the bond market following their own sharp moves earlier in the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was most recently at 5.25 per cent, up from 5.22 per cent late Thursday. It recently touched its highest level since 2002 because of worries about high inflation, the U.S. government’s massive debt load, signals that the U.S. economy is continuing to grow and other factors. High yields threaten to slow the economy by making borrowing money more expensive for everyone, and the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has already leaped to its highest level in nearly three years. Yields are also shooting higher in other bond markets around the world, which make investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments. But the high yields have also attracted investors to buy Treasurys at recent auctions, and that demand is helping to limit further increases for yields. On Wall Street, companies that own cell towers jumped to some of the market’s biggest gains, including leaps of 12 per cent for Crown Castle and 7.4 per cent for American Tower. They rallied after SpaceX announced a purchase that could help it become a major mobile carrier in the United States. It still needs to get approval from U.S. regulators, but SpaceX said the purchase of low-band spectrum would allow its Starlink Mobile business to have a signal that can penetrate walls and connect customers inside buildings who may not be able to access its satellites. The threat of another big competitor sent stocks lower in the wireless industry, including drops of 8.9 per cent for T-Mobile US, 7.5 per cent for AT&T and 5.5 per cent for Verizon. Delta Air Lines lost 3.3 per cent after reporting weaker profit and revenue for the summer than analysts expected. CEO Ed Bastian said demand remains strong and customers want to fly, but the airline is also having to absorb a US$6 billion increase in fuel costs this year. The pressure is on companies to deliver strong growth in profits after their prices ran toward records despite the downward push on them from high yields in the bond market. Next week will bring high-profile profit reports from the country’s biggest banks. In stock markets abroad, indexes rallied in Europe with gains of at least one per cent in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Asian markets were more mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 finished nearly unchanged, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.8 per cent. ___ Stan Choe, The Associated Press AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
