Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga
Stocks are broadly higher in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday, keeping major indexes on track for weekly gains after several days of up-and-down trading.
The S&P 500 rose 1.8% as of 1:48 p.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 603 points, or 2%, to 30,939 and the Nasdaq rose 1.6%.
Technology and health care companies has some of the strongest gains. Oracle rose 4.6% and Pfizer rose 4.7%.
Social media companies were broadly lower after Snapchat’s parent company issued a weak forecast and the Washington Post reported that Elon Musk plans to slash about three-quarters of the payroll at Twitter after he buys the company. Snap slumped 30% and Twitter shed 4.7%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects mortgage rates, slipped to 4.22% from 4.24% late Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which tends to track investors’ expectations for Federal Reserve action on interest rates, fell to 4.50% from 4.61%.
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Corporate earnings are mixed
Markets have been unsettled in recent days. Stocks lurched from sharp gains early in the week to losses later in the week. The benchmark S&P 500 and other major indexes are all still on track for weekly gains in what has been an encouraging October so far.
Investors have shifted their focus, for now, to the latest round of…
