The S&P 500 and Dow inched higher in choppy trading on Friday, buoyed by expectations for an imminent Middle East peace deal, while investors geared up for the market debut of Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is estimated to be Wall Street's biggest public listing in history.
U.S. President Donald Trump's comments on Thursday, which suggested that a deal to end the Middle East conflict and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz could be signed as early as this weekend, lifted sentiment globally, even as Tehran said that a final decision was pending.
SpaceX is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq for the first time later in the day and is likely to be immediately ranked as the seventh biggest publicly listed U.S. company, with a potential valuation of $1.75 trillion.
Only about 3% to 4% of SpaceX's shares are expected to be available for trading with Reuters reporting that they were oversubscribed nearly four times.
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"A dominant company with a $1.77 trillion valuation doesn't just quietly enter the market. It's going to cannibalize capital," said Joel Shulman, CEO of ERShares, which manages an ETF with SpaceX exposure.
Shares of other space stocks have soared in the lead-up to the debut. They moved lower in early trading Friday, with Rocket Lab down 5.4%, Intuitive Machines and Planet Labs shedding 8.3% and 6.6%, respectively, while funds holding shares of SpaceX such as Fundrise Innovation Fund rose 3.4%.
Eight of 11 major S&P 500 sectors moved higher, with materials shares leading gains.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index dipped 0.3%, with chipmakers losing some steam following a sharp rebound in the previous session.
Shares of Broadcom, Micron and Marvell Technology were down between 1% and 2.5%.
Analysts believe some of the weakness in U.S. stocks and bitcoin's 16% fall last week could be due to traders trimming holdings ahead of SpaceX's debut.
"In the absence of fresh capital coming in, it's a mathematical certainty that it's going to have an impact on other companies," Shulman said.
U.S. equity funds saw their first weekly outflow in three, and earlier this week the technology index confirmed a correction
At 09:32 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 303.74 points, or 0.60%, to 51,152.85, the S&P 500 gained 13.30 points, or 0.18%, to 7,407.60 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 25.38 points, or 0.10%, to 25,784.28.
The three main U.S. stock indexes are set for a muted end to the week, amid uncertainty surrounding the Iran conflict and concerns that a rally in AI stocks has gone too far.
SpaceX, which also includes Starlink and xAI, has already defied some Wall Street conventions. Index providers such as Nasdaq and FTSE Russell have tweaked their entry requirements for its inclusion, while the company also set its stock price at $135, even before the roadshow began, reflecting Musk's sway over the IPO.
Some analysts have, however, voiced caution over the fundamentals of the company, which posted more than $4 billion in annual losses last year.
Data earlier this week showed inflation pressures were mounting, driven by elevated energy costs stemming from the Mideast conflict.
Oil prices slid below $90 a barrel following Trump's remarks, and traders pushed their expectations for an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve to December from October earlier this week, the CME Group's FedWatch tool showed.
Adobe slid 8.6% after the exit of CFO Dan Durn.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.36-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 78 new highs and 20 new lows.
