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U.S. stocks rose on Friday, lifted by Oracle, as the artificial intelligence trade looks to regain its footing after experiencing volatility.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 287 points, or 0.6%.
Oracle shares were up more than 7% after TikTok agreed to sell its U.S. operations to a new joint venture that includes the software giant and private equity investor Silver Lake.
The jump marks a turnaround for the stock, which has been a focal point of concern among investors this week after a report revealed that the cloud infrastructure company lost a key backer of one of its data center projects. That dragged down other stocks linked to AI, including names such as Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices.
Elsewhere in the space, shares of AI chip darling Nvidia rose more than 3% after Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that the Trump administration is reviewing the prospect of the company selling its advanced AI chips to China. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said that he will allow Nvidia to ship its H200 AI chips to “approved customers” in the country.
Additionally, Micron Technology shares extended their gains from the previous session, rising more than 6%. The stock surged 10% on Thursday the company gave robust guidance for revenues in the current quarter, saying that “demand is substantially higher than supply for the foreseeable future.” The results reassured investors after recent sessions were swamped with jitters over the AI trade, which is now looking to score a strong finish to the year.
To be sure, semiconductor stocks remain almost 5% below their highs.
Though there’s been some recovery for those stocks lately, investors should still brace for potential choppiness into 2026 given their valuation levels, according to Tom Garretson, senior portfolio strategist at RBC Wealth Management.
“The kind of onslaught of issuance from some of the hyperscalers, some of the AI trades, could weigh on markets into 2026,” he said. “But again, these are kind of some of the best-rated companies in terms of credit qualities. They obviously have the capacity to ramp up debt to finance some of this stuff.”
“We’re still counting on some of the capex spend kind of supporting a broader or probably better growth backdrop,” he also said.
Friday could see volatile market activity as options on four types of securities are set to expire on the same day, an event known as “quadruple witching.” More than $7.1 trillion in notional options exposure is set to expire this Friday, making it the largest options expiration on record, according to Goldman Sachs.
This comes after the S&P 500 and the Dow both snapped their four-day losing streaks in the previous session. With Friday’s moves, the broad-based index is little changed on the week, while the Nasdaq has risen 0.2%. The Dow, however, is still down 0.4% week to date.
Nike was among the day’s losers, as shares slid around 10% after the sports apparel giant saw revenue in its Greater China market decline during the fiscal second quarter. The company is also feeling the pain of tariff increases, noting a hit to its gross margins due to the levies.