Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq wobble as Trump tamps down China threats amid regional bank jitters

Big Tech stocks were set to end a chaotic week for the market on varying notes.

Nvidia (NVDA) was on track for a weekly loss of less than 1% — despite a recent upgrade from analysts at HSBC (HSBC) and an upbeat earnings report from its manufacturer TSMC (TSM) — as investors have increasingly worried about an AI bubble and as its customer OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) has inked deals with its rivals.

Amazon (AMZN) was set to lose 1.6% for the five trading sessions through Friday, while Microsoft (MSFT) was on track to end the week roughly flat.

Meanwhile, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) shares were eyeing a 6% gain after launching a new Gemini Enterprise offering last week. JPMorgan also noted this week that Google’s new changes to how it displays text ads could result in better monetization of its Search business.

Broadcom (AVGO) was also set for a 6.5% gain as it signed a deal with OpenAI this week to build custom chips for the ChatGPT developer.

Tesla (TSLA) was on track for a 5% gain as the EV maker is set to report quarterly results next week.

Micron (MU) stock fell as much as 2.8% Friday as Reuters reported that the chipmaker plans to stop supplying memory chips for servers to data centers in China.

Micron’s China business suffered after it failed to recover from a 2023 ban from the country’s government on its products, Reuters said.

Micron did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.

The stock pared initial losses in late morning trading.

An analysis of state-level data suggests that initial US jobless claims fell last week, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Applications for US unemployment benefits fell to 215,000 during the week that ended Oct. 11 from 234,000 the previous week, according to Bloomberg.

A government shutdown has prevented the release of critical federal economic data closely watched by Wall Street and policymakers, including weekly updates on initial applications for US unemployment benefits. Data related to US employment is a key factor in investor bets on the Federal Reserve’s path to interest rate cuts.

Easing unemployment would complicate investors’ growing confidence that the central bank will cut rates in both October and December.

US stocks wavered Friday at the open.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added more than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell around 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped nearly 0.5%.

The moves come as President Trump attempted to ease fears of greater escalation of the US trade dispute with China. Stocks had fallen during Thursday’s trading session as regional bank stocks took a hit from investor concerns over bad loans and US credit quality.

President Trump on Friday said threatened high tariffs on Chinese goods were “not sustainable,” easing fears of further trade escalation between the countries.

“But that’s what the number is,” he said during an interview with Fox Business. “It’s probably not [sustainable] — you know, it could stand, but they forced me to do that.”

Those comments helped fuel a recovery in stock futures. Futures on all three indexes recovered from steep before-the-bell losses.

Trump also suggested a long-planned meeting with Xi Jinping was still on track, saying he planned to meet with China’s leader in two weeks.

With the concerning news from banks like Zions (ZION) yesterday on loan blow-ups — which comes on the heels of the situations at Tricolor and First Brands — it’s good to see contagion not spreading to a company in American Express (AXP).

What CEO Steve Squeri just told me by phone:

“I don’t see any blowback. If you look at what these banks were reporting, [it] was big one-time losses. And we don’t do that. What would be concerning to me would be the delinquency rate getting out of control, because that’s a leading indicator of people potentially going into default. And we’re at 1.3% across our business globally, and the gap to our competitors continues to widen from a delinquency perspective. So I can worry about what I can see.”

Please note some economic data may not be available due to the government shutdown.

Economic data: Housing starts (September); Building permits, (September preliminary reading); Housing starts (September); Import price index (September); Import price index (September) Export price index (September); Export price index (September); Industrial production (September); Manufacturing production (September); Capacity utilization (September)

Earnings calendar: American Express (AXP), Truist (TFC), State Street (STT), Ally Financial (ALLY), Comerica (CMA)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Wall Street credit worries intensify after Dimon’s ‘cockroach’ warning

AI can’t justify its massive buildout — but doesn’t have to, yet

Tariffs help trim US deficit in first drop since COVID era

Bitcoin continues to slide after historic crypto wipeout

Rich shoppers drive US spending as lower earners cut back

Novo, Lilly fall as Trump promises cut in Ozempic’s price

US bank stock losses deepen in wait for earnings

Amex earnings top estimates as platinum card demand surges

Trump says $20B project Schumer wants is ‘pretty much dead

The dollar is set to have its worst week since July, falling for a fourth day, amid dovish signals from the Fed and new worries over US regional banks.

Bloomberg News reports:

Read more here.

Here’s a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

MP Materials (MP) stock fell 3% in premarket trading on Friday. The rare earths company has found itself caught up in the US-China trade tensions, as China imposed restrictions on its rare earths, forcing the US to diversify its suppliers.

Wolfspeed (WOLF) stock fell 4% before the bell. The chipmaker announced on Thursday that it would discuss its fiscal 2026 first quarter results on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Shares in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica (EL.PA) hit rose on Friday, surging over 10% after the eyewear giant’s record quarter showed sales of its Ray-Ban Meta (META) smart glasses gaining momentum.

Gold (GC=F) rose again today, hitting another record. The safe-haven asset was boosted by concerns about credit quality in the economy, bets that the Federal Reserve will press on with monetary easin and heightened US-China relations.

Bloomberg News reports:

Read more here.