United States benchmark indices closed mixed on Thursday (Friday AEDT), with technology stocks dropping as investors rotated away from major tech companies.
The S&P 500 was roughly flat at 6,921.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 49,266.11 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4% to 23,480.02.
The S&P’s technology index shed 1.5%, with Nvidia shares losing 2.2%. Apple dipped 0.5%, Microsoft was down 1.1%, and Meta dropped 0.4%.
Shares in Google parent Alphabet were up 1.1%, with Alphabet now overtaking Apple as the world’s second-most valuable company.
“Alphabet shares surged roughly 65% over the last year, the strongest performance among the Magnificent Seven, as investors responded positively to accelerating adoption of its Gemini 3 AI models and the company’s expanding role across the AI stack,” wrote Zacks Investment Research stock strategist Ethan Feller.
“By contrast, Apple shares lagged as the company struggled to articulate a clear and differentiated artificial intelligence strategy, despite its dominant consumer ecosystem.”
Major defence stocks rallied after U.S. President Donald Trump called for a US$1.5 trillion defence budget in 2027. Lockheed Martin was up 4.4%, Northrop Grumman climbed 2.4%, and General Dynamics rose 1.7%.
Ford and General Motors respectively gained 5% and 3% after the U.S. Treasury Department said it would add a tax deductible for taxes on car loan interest.
U.S. two-year bond yields were up 0.02% to 3.492%, while 10-year yields added 0.03% to 4.171%.
