Trade tensions drop and stocks end mixed

U.S. stocks were mixed Friday, with major benchmarks on track for the best week in two months amid growing conviction that inflation will remain tame and as trade tensions eased.

A slump in tech shares weighed on the S&P 500 Index, which fluctuated after paring gains of as much as 0.4 percent. The dollar steadied, leaving it little changed for the week, while 10-year Treasury yields hovered below 3 percent. Emerging-market shares rose for a fifth day, the best streak since January. Oil slipped, but headed for a second weekly advance after the U.S. quit the Iran nuclear deal.

The week saw a bullish tone take hold in equities following a great earnings season for the biggest U.S. companies and removal of some trade anxiety as China seemed to soften its tone. At the same time, investor anxiety about a rapid rise in global interest rates was eased after a tame inflation reading in the U.S. and a dovish policy decision by the Bank of England.

“What has gotten stocks going again is the reality that maybe rates are not going to be rising to the moon and the dollar is not going to continue to strengthen,” Krishna Memani, the chief investment officer at Oppenheimer-Funds Inc., said in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York headquarters. “The underlying fundamentals in terms of economic growth, earnings, has been extraordinarily good.”

Easing geopolitical tensions aided gains in Asian stocks, with Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un set for their landmark meeting in Singapore on June 12. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index edged higher. Malaysian assets trading offshore began to stabilize after the shock election win for the opposition. Argentina’s peso fell to a record low as the country seeks a credit line from the International Monetary Fund.