Stocks climbed on Friday despite rising bond yields and a new drop in consumer sentiment figures, with the major indexes closing a winning week.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.48%, while the S&P 500 did so 0.51%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average overperformed, increasing by 0.93%.
Oil prices also dropped on Friday after a report detailing that Saudi Arabia's exports reached the highest level since the war in Iran began despite facing multiple challenges.
Riyadh is exporting six million barrels of oil per day, according to intelligence firm Kpler. It is the highest figure since the war in Iran began in late February and back to the monthly average of 2025.
Exports are climbing despite multiple threats to exports: Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, an embargo of Saudi oil in the Red Sea declared by Yemen's Houthi rebels and the recent attack against the country's key East-West pipeline.
Despite all that, shipments climbed 80% in September compared to August. Riyadh resumed partial operations in the pipeline less than two weeks after shutting it down.
Elsewhere, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz will be reopen within seven days if the U.S. meets "certain conditions."
Speaking to press on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Araghchi said such a scenario will also herald renewed talks.
In contrast, other sides of the economy continued to flash warning signs. Bond yields kept climbing, reaching highs seen years or decades ago, and consumer sentiment kept dropping.
The University of Michigan's Survey of Consumers showed the figure standing at 48.1, compared to 51.7 in August and 55.1 last September. It is a 7% and 12.7% drop for the month and the year, respectively.
Joanne Hsu, the survey director, noted that the latest figure is down 15% compared to January. "Views of current and year-ahead expected personal finances both weakened about 10% this month, with concerns over high prices continuing to climb," Hsu said.
She went on to detail that buying conditions for durables "improved a bit, in part due to a perception that completing such purchases now would help consumers avoid higher prices in the future."
However, the "short-run outlook for business conditions plunged amid renewed worries that elevated fuel prices and re-escalating trade disputes could pass through to the economy as a whole."
The report also shows "broad agreement across the political spectrum that the outlook for the economy has weakened since the beginning of the year." Sentiment among Republicans, Hsu noted, is 20% lower than at the beginning of the year, compared to a 13% drop for Democrats.
As for inflation expectations for the next year, they jumped 0.6 percentage points, now clocking in at 4.6 percent as energy prices continue to soar as a result of the war in Iran.
