Markets in Australia and Japan rose Friday, mirroring gains on Wall Street that saw both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reach new highs.
This comes as investors took in strong earnings from Apple and Caterpillar, looking past weaker-than-expected economic data and threats of escalation in Iran by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Brent crude prices briefly surged to $126 a barrel after Axios reported that the U.S. military would brief Trump on potential action against Iran.
However, Brent’s June contract, which expired on Thursday, later settled at $114.01 a barrel, while U.S West Texas Intermediate was 0.61% up at $105.71, as of 7:46 p.m. ET. Brent futures for July delivery closed at $110.4.
On Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product rose at a 2% annualized pace in the first quarter. While that was an increase from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025, it was below the 2.2% consensus estimate by Wall Street economists.
Most major Asian markets are closed due to the May Day holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.38% to 59,513.12, and the Topix reversed earlier losses to gain 0.04%, ending at 3,728.73.
The Japanese yen strengthened marginally against the dollar on Friday, after reports that Tokyo had intervened to prop up the yen on Thursday, prompting a sharp rally.
The currency was last trading at 156.56 against the greenback, after breaching the 160 level earlier in the week, hitting a two-year high of 160.72.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.74% and closed at 8,729.8, snapping an eight-session losing streak.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose 1.02% to close at a record of 7,209.01, its first close above the 7,200 threshold. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.89%, hitting new intraday and closing records as well.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.62%.
U.S. futures for all three major indexes were marginally up after the session, with S&P 500 futures advancing 0.16%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 79 points, or about 0.2%.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
By CNBC