Brendan McDermid/Reuters
- US stocks were mixed on Friday, with the Nasdaq falling after lackluster earnings from Snap.
- Apple's recent iPhone privacy changes hurt Snap's advertising business, which led to a decline in other ad-reliant tech companies.
- Chinese property developer Evergrande made a key bond payment that prevented it from defaulting.
US stocks were mixed on Friday, with the Nasdaq trading lower following a dismal third-quarter earnings report from Snap.
Recent changes to Apple's iPhone privacy settings made it harder for Snap to deliver ads to targeted users, and that weakness dragged down shares of other advertising-reliant tech companies like Facebook and Alphabet.
US stocks did get a reprieve from Chinese property developer Evergrande, which managed to make a key bond payment one day prior to the end of a 30-day grace period. If Evergrande failed to make the payment, it would have defaulted on its $300 billion debt pile, causing significant financial harm to firms with exposure to the company's debt.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Friday:
- S&P 500: 4,548.23, down 0.03%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,672.31, up 0.19% (69.23 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 15,164.25, down 0.33%
Digital World Acquisition, the SPAC that plans to merge with Donald Trump's recently formed media company, extended its two-day rally and surged an additional 90% on Friday. The stock was up more than 300% on Thursday amid the deal hype.
Saba Capital, a hedge fund that owned more than 2 million shares of Digital World, sold its stake in the company on Thursday and said its values are not aligned with Trump Media's planned social media platform.
The demand for cryptocurrencies among investors continued this week, with Robinhood saying it has more than one million people on its waitlist to gain access to crypto wallets. Meanwhile, another bitcoin futures ETF, this time from Valkyrie, is set to begin trading on Friday.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.05%, to $83.37 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, rallied 0.91%, to $85.38 per barrel.
Gold jumped as much as 1.37%, to $1,806.30 per ounce.