Finance

Energy prices eased slightly after the U.S. executive administration indicated that no immediate military responses would take place in Iran prior to the upcoming midterm elections. Despite this brief reprieve, international benchmarks remained highly elevated due to ongoing security threats near the Strait of Hormuz, leaving Brent crude settling above $104 per barrel.

Mega-cap tech equities staged a recovery as the broader market shook off immediate anxieties concerning a deceleration in artificial intelligence infrastructure spending. The previous session's sharp correction, triggered by reports that OpenAI's annualized revenue fell short of initial projections, was largely reversed as investors re-entered core chipmaker and cloud software positions.

Long-term U.S. sovereign bond yields ticked slightly higher to finish near 5.24% for the 10-year note, hovering just below the multi-decade peaks reached earlier in the week. Fixed-income investors continue to monitor underlying economic indicators and central bank commentary to gauge the probability of further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes before the end of the year.