Wall Street posts weekly gains as Nasdaq leads the rally

Wall Street ended trading on Friday higher, supported by gains in Microsoft shares and other artificial intelligence-related technology stocks, while rising oil prices and the latest jump in U.S. Treasury yields kept investors cautious.

The gains recorded by the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite marked the end of a volatile week, driven by uncertainty over which sectors will benefit or suffer from artificial intelligence, as well as concerns about the U.S. war with Iran and the sharp rise in U.S. Treasury yields.

Microsoft shares rose after the software giant revealed several new features it plans to add to its Copilot application, including a coding tool and an artificial intelligence agent that operates around the clock, according to Reuters.

Shares of Akamai Technologies surged following a $11.6 billion cloud services deal with leading artificial intelligence firm Anthropic.

Thomas Martin, chief portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta, said, “It’s a positive sign in that investors are still putting money in and deals are still being struck.”