US stocks trimmed earlier losses on Thursday after signs of possible diplomatic progress between Washington and Tehran tempered a spike in energy prices. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq 100 all hovered around the flatline by the close.
Reports indicated that US and Iranian negotiators were moving closer to a deal to restore tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, easing concerns over fuel supply. That prospect helped pull back fuel prices and lowered yields on shorter-dated US Treasuries.
AI-linked megacaps rebounded from earlier weakness this week. Alphabet rose about 1.5%, while Meta climbed 4%, extending its weekly gain to roughly 16% amid upbeat reaction to its new AI agent software and recently unveiled hardware devices.
Nonetheless, the risk of persistently tight financial conditions continued to weigh on semiconductor stocks, as heavy debt issuance to fund AI infrastructure projects unnerved investors. Shares of Nvidia, Intel, Marvell, and Micron fell as much as 3%.
In separate corporate news, Oracle slid 4.5% after declaring force majeure in connection with delays to the construction of a data center in New Mexico.