US stocks climbed on Friday to close a turbulent session in the green amid rising optimism for a December interest rate cut, while bitcoin (BTC-USD) kept tumbling amid a brutal stretch for cryptocurrencies.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed the day up right around 0.9% and 1%, respectively, after seesawing back and forth early in the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained around 1.1%, or just shy of 500 points.
US equities perked up early Friday after the New York Fed president John Williams said he sees room for a cut in the “near term.” That led rate-cut bets for the Fed’s next meeting to spike, with traders pricing in 75% odds of a December cut, up from around 40% on Thursday. Williams’ remarks come amid evidence of a deeply divided Fed heading into its final meeting of 2025.
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But Friday’s gains failed to undo a losing week for stocks amid mounting concerns over an AI-fueled “bubble.” Not even Nvidia (NVDA) and its CEO, Jensen Huang, could allay those fears after the AI chipmaker’s blowout earnings reveal on Wednesday. The chipmaker ended Friday’s trading session in the red, down just shy of 1%.
All three US gauges recorded weekly losses, with the S&P 500 down nearly 2% and the Nasdaq off near 3%. Both indexes ended Thursday’s down session at their lowest levels since September..
While stocks have seesawed, cryptocurrencies are also feeling the heat. Bitcoin sank on Friday to trade as low as $82,000, deepening a slide from record-high levels just more than a month ago. It is now heading for its worst month since the crypto collapse of 2022.
Read more: Live coverage of corporate earnings
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Meanwhile, a measure of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan showed sentiment deteriorated further in November to a reading of 51, as worries about higher prices and job losses remained top of mind.