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US stocks gained on Friday as investors cheered a strong round of tech earnings and brushed off underwhelming economic data ahead of next week's Fed meeting.
Shares of Snap soared 17% after the social media app exceeded earnings expectations. Twitter also gained after beating estimates, lifting shares of tech peers Facebook and Alphabet.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Friday:
- S&P 500: 4,386.77, up 0.44%
- Dow Jones industrial average: 34,995.07, up 0.49% (171.72 points)
- Nasdaq composite: 14,731.28, up 0.3%
On Thursday, initial jobless claims for the prior week came in at 419,000, above expectations of 350,000, though analysts said this was dismissed by investors as "seasonal." The number of Americans newly filing for unemployment benefits has been on a general downward trend.
Stocks in Asia were mostly lower over concerns of tighter regulation. Regulators in China are said to be considering severe sanctions on Didi Global following its US IPO, sending its US-listed stock 11% lower as of Thursday's close. Also, a Bloomberg report that China is considering turning tutoring companies into non-profits pushed Chinese education stocks lower Friday morning.
The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed 3.3 basis points to 1.30% after hitting a five month low at the start of the week.
Bitcoin hovered just above $32,000.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.22%, to $71.75 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, slid 0.26%, to $73.62 per barrel.
Gold was little changed around $1,803.30.
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