The Dow jumped 423 points Friday as tech shares rebounded on a SpaceX deal, and oil reacted after Trump vowed no Iran strike before the midterms.
U.S. stocks bounced Friday after a rough Thursday session, with technology names leading the recovery while investors weighed energy prices and a fresh signal from the White House on Iran. The New York Post reported the Dow rose 423 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.6% as buyers returned to the sector that had slipped a day earlier.
Thursday’s slide had followed weaker-than-hoped revenue figures tied to OpenAI. Reports put the company’s annualized revenue at $50 billion, well short of a widely floated $68 billion mark, and that news weighed on the broader tech complex before the rebound.
SpaceX helped reverse the tone. Shares in Elon Musk’s company rose 1.3% Thursday after it secured a major spectrum license deal, and that move helped pull the tech sector higher into Friday’s advance. Traditional wireless names moved the other way, with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile shares lower on the same spectrum news.
Readers tracking large formal technology commitments have seen a similar push in other lanes of administration policy, including $2.4 billion in tech pledges tied to advanced computing goals.
The market backdrop included a direct statement from President Trump on military timing. On Thursday he wrote on Truth Social that the United States “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections,” a line that landed as investors were already sorting through oil spikes and bond-yield pressure.
Breitbart reported a fuller version of the same message, including Trump’s note that talks were underway and his firm bottom line on the nuclear file.
"We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran... we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd."
That same post kept the pressure on Tehran. Trump also stated that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, while the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian oil exports remained in force. Central Command has reported zero Iranian shipments moving under that blockade, even as more than 1.25 billion barrels from Gulf partners have been facilitated.
Indirect talks have continued through mediators around an Iranian “seven-day plan” seeking blockade relief and asset releases in exchange for steps in the Strait of Hormuz. Differences remain over uranium enrichment. The timing pledge followed earlier reports that the administration had been weighing whether to resume a large-scale operation.
Fox News covered the same declaration and noted Trump’s warning that Iran must meet U.S. demands or face devastating consequences, with retired Gen. Jack Keane outlining the strategic options still on the table.
Energy markets did not suddenly turn calm. Brent crude futures rose 0.4% Friday to $104.72 a barrel after jumping as much as 5% on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate climbed 0.4% to $91.85. Iranian attacks on vessels had disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and an intensifying hurricane forced oil producers off the U.S. Gulf Coast to cut output.
National average gasoline prices remained above $4 a gallon. Diesel stayed stuck above $6. Those levels matter for families, farmers, and truckers who feel every swing at the pump and the loading dock.
Trump has already taken concrete steps aimed at diesel supply. He signed an executive order to allow more widespread use of tax-exempt diesel, a move in the same lane as prior action that cleared tax-free red diesel for farmers and truckers.
He also secured a G7 agreement to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude within the next few months. That allied stockpile approach matches the pattern of earlier coordination that secured a European diesel release while U.S. fuel prices eased from recent highs.
Experts cautioned those tactics are unlikely to move U.S. pump prices by more than a few pennies. The deeper drivers, disrupted tanker traffic, production cuts, and geopolitical risk, still sit in the price.
Bond markets added another layer of caution. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.259%, and the 30-year yield ticked up to 5.622%, extending a move that had already pushed yields to multi-decade highs earlier in the week. Higher yields raise borrowing costs and compete with stocks for investor cash.
Bob Edwards, chief investment officer of Edwards Asset Management, argued in a Friday note that the recent jitters have created buying opportunities rather than a reason to abandon equities.
"Higher oil prices, geopolitical conflict, rising yields, AI investment concerns and November’s midterm elections have contributed to investor pessimism,"
Edwards did not stop at the list of worries. He pointed to the same tech resilience markets showed Friday and to earnings expectations that remain solid.
"Yet technology stocks have demonstrated resilience, earnings expectations remain robust, and I believe the eventual resolution of election uncertainty could provide another catalyst for equities."
RealClearPolitics noted Trump’s Thursday declaration that he would not attack Iran again before next month’s midterms, and framed the war’s longer timeline against earlier hopes for a short campaign. The bare fact of the timing pledge is what traders and voters both heard.
Administration officials have also kept pressure on waste and improper payments in other corners of federal finance, including cases where the Treasury blocked $175 million tied to payments that should never have gone out.
Put the session in plain order. Thursday brought an OpenAI revenue miss against sky-high expectations, a SpaceX spectrum win that lifted Musk’s company 1.3%, a sharp jump in Brent, higher Treasury yields, and Trump’s Truth Social pledge on Iran. Friday brought the bounce: Dow up 423 points, Nasdaq up 0.6%, tech back in front, and oil still elevated even after the political signal.
The Iran piece is not a shrug. Productive discussions, an intact oil blockade, a hard no on a nuclear weapon, and a public deadline tied to November 3 all landed in the same window. Markets hate surprise wars. They also watch whether leaders set terms and keep leverage. Trump did both in public view.
Household budgets still run through gasoline above $4 and diesel above $6. Spectrum deals and index points do not fill a tank. That is why the diesel executive order and the G7 release matter on Main Street even when analysts peg the near-term pump effect in pennies.
Investors got a reminder that tech can recover fast when a concrete catalyst appears, and that presidential timing on force can remove one layer of overnight risk without surrendering the core demand that Iran never obtain a nuclear weapon. Election calendars and carrier groups rarely share a quiet month. Friday’s rally said buyers can live with clarity better than with drift.