US stocks opened higher on Friday on hopes of a dovish Federal Reserve board after President Donald Trump’s temporary pick for a central bank governor post.
As of 12:18 PM Eastern, the S&P 500 was up 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, and the Nasdaq added 0.9%.
As of 9:57 AM Eastern, the S&P 500 was up 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq added 0.6%.
At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.3 points, or 0.17%, to 44044.95. The S&P 500 rose 15.2 points, or 0.24%, to 6355.22, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 73.7 points, or 0.35%, to 21316.366.
Investors are also monitoring President Donald Trump’s latest tariff moves and the potential impact on the American economy.
On Thursday, Trump imposed higher import taxes on dozens of the US trading partners.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.25% late on Thursday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury rose to 3.76% from 3.73%.
Gainers and Losers
Gilead Sciences stock soared 8.4% after the company reported stronger financial results.
Expedia Group shares surged 6.6% after the company posted encouraging financial results.
Among megacap stocks, Nvidia rose 0.8% and Microsoft rose 0.6%.
Bullion
Gold futures rose to a record high on Friday after reports of an unexpected tariff on the precious metal as investors tracked US President Donald Trump’s latest moves.
Gold futures reached a new intraday high at $3,534.10 an ounce after the Financial Times reported that the US would put tariffs on one-kilo bars, the most traded type of bullion on Comex.
The media report also said 100-ounce bars would also face tolls.
As Wall Street opened for trading, the spot gold pared some gains to trade $3,400 an ounce.
Crude Oil
Oil prices stabilized on Friday after falling the previous day on news of a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in coming weeks.
Brent North Sea Crude edged up 0.3% at $66.62 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate added 0.1% at $63.94 per barrel.
