Finance

Oil futures fell substantially, with West Texas Intermediate dropping down near $92 per barrel and Brent settling below its recent highs. The drop came following reports that diplomats from Washington and Tehran are discussing a phased deal to reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz. The cooling of energy costs offered a vital buffer for financial markets that had been heavily pressured by inflation fears earlier in the week.

A global selloff in fixed-income assets paused on Friday afternoon, bringing minor relief to equity markets as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield settled at 5.18%. Earlier in the session, the benchmark yield had briefly spiked to 5.22%, testing its highest marks since 2007. Despite the slight Friday pullback, yields remain at highly elevated levels as investors weigh persistent consumer demand and the ongoing Federal Reserve rate-hiking path.

Shares of Akamai Technologies jumped roughly 7% during Friday's trading session following the announcement of an $11.6 billion cloud partnership. The multiyear agreement is set with artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, the creators of the Claude AI chatbot. This substantial corporate contract injected fresh momentum into tech sector investments, offsetting broader cooling trends in the overextended artificial intelligence industry.