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Stock market news live updates: S&P 500, Dow notch second week of gains, Nasdaq falters as bond yields rise
Emily McCormick and Alexandra Semenova
9 min read

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U.S. stocks were mixed Friday but closed mostly higher for the week after a streak of up and down days on Wall Street as investors further mulled the path forward for interest rates and a host of new sanctions against Russia.

The S&P 500 was up 0.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered a 150-point, or about 0.4%, gain, with both benchmarks logging a second straight week of gains. The Nasdaq Composite climbed back from session lows but closed just below breakeven after the index was dragged down by sales of tech stocks as bond yields climbed. The 10-year Treasury benchmark rose to yield 2.5%.

Developments in Russia's war in Ukraine remained in focus as President Joe Biden met with NATO allies in Europe. The U.S. leveled a fresh set of sanctions against Russia and vowed to provide more aid to Ukraine. Biden also said he would support removing Russia from the G20.

Despite the ongoing geopolitical conflict, stocks have remained relatively resilient this week in the face of upbeat economic data and a chorus of commentary from Federal Reserve officials reiterating the central bank's more hawkish path forward to rein in inflation. In one of the latest datapoints underscoring the ultra-tight labor market, weekly jobless claims set the lowest level since 1969 last week, as companies held onto their existing workers amid widespread labor shortages.

Against this backdrop — and with inflation running at the hottest level in 40 years — central bankers have stepped up talk of tightening monetary policy. Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said Thursday he was "open" to the notion of a 50 basis-point interest rate hike at a forthcoming Fed meeting if needed. This echoed remarks from other Fed policymakers including San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who said earlier this week that if the Fed needed to do 50 basis points, then "50 is what we'll do." Fed Chair Jerome Powell earlier this week also signaled a willingness to roll out a larger-than-typical 50-basis point rate hike to address inflation, if deemed necessary.

While prospects of higher interest rates and tighter financial conditions were met with consternation among investors and choppiness in markets earlier this year, traders have begun to digest the prospects of a more hawkish Fed. Still, some strategists cautioned that volatility would likely still be in the cards in the near-term.

"We remain pretty bullish on the market overall but I do think that volatility is here to stay," Ross Mayfield, Baird investment strategy analyst, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday.

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