Major US markets struggle to find a positive ending for the week

HONG KONG (AP) — U.S. markets pointed higher early Friday but for the first time in a month, major indexes are all at risk of closing the week in negative territory.

The futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% and Nasdaq futures climbed 0.6%.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P are down 1.81% and 1.85% respectively before the opening bell, and the Nasdaq is down 2.48%. It would be the second consecutive week of losses for the Dow.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this week attempted to put a lid on longer-term borrowing costs which have weighed on markets, but the results have been muted.

The Treasury announced Wednesday that it will at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term government debt, and Bessent signaled Thursday that the repurchase program could be larger.

The announcement temporarily brought down government bond yields, which have been elevated by concerns about high inflation partly caused by the war in Iran and rising U.S. government debt.

But economists believe the effect on bond yields is temporary. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury was around 4.70%, up from nearly 4.64% on Thursday and back near its level before the Treasury Department’s announcement.

The 30-year Treasury yield was about 5.25%, up from 5.18% on Thursday.

In early trading, SpaceX shares are up less than 1% after nearly 319 million shares held by investors and employees became eligible to trade Thursday.

Bitcoin is on a tear this week and was up more than 5% early. Bitcoin has gained 22% for the week and was trading for $76,935 each on Friday.

In Asia, bond yields also rose. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield, which had been trading near 30-year highs, rose to about 2.88% from around 2.83% on Thursday.

In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.1% to 10,752.29. France’s CAC 40 was nearly unchanged at 8,454.20. Germany’s DAX rose 0.1% to 26,015.14.

Oil prices are essentially flat as the U.S. stepped up its economic threats toward Iran due to limited progress in talks between Washington and Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.1% to $93.67 a barrel. It was trading at roughly $72 per barrel before the start of the war. Benchmark U.S. crude was down 0.1% to $86.77 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar declined to 158.70 Japanese yen from 159.05 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1702, up from $1.1678.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 66,016.36. Japan on Friday reported that headline inflation rose to 1.9% in July, in part due to higher oil prices resulting from the war with Iran.

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% to 6,912.95. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.2% to 26,009.46, while the Shanghai Composite index added less than 0.1% to 3,905.20.