(Updates with market moves at the end of the day and weekly index changes.)
US stocks closed mixed Friday at the end of another bruising week, while oil prices retreated amid uncertainty around the Middle East situation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 51,947.25, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 24,975.82. The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% to 7,411.98. Barring technology, all sectors advanced, led by real estate.
This week, the Nasdaq fell 2.1% and the S&P 500 shed 0.6%, logging their second consecutive weekly losses. The Dow lost 0.4% to mark its third straight weekly decline.
West Texas Intermediate crude was down 2.4% at $90.01 a barrel in Friday late-afternoon trade, while Brent fell 3% to $97.67. Both benchmarks were still on track for sharp gains for the week and this month.
Pakistan has held exploratory discussions with Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni as it seeks to renew talks between Washington and Tehran, Reuters reported Friday, citing Pakistani sources. Islamabad has discussed the Middle East situation with China, according to the report.
Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait fended off Iranian attacks on Friday, CNN reported. US President Donald Trump told Axios on Thursday that he was "considering a massive attack" against Iran.
US Treasury yields were mixed, with the two-year rate little changed at 4.35% and the 10-year rate down 1.7 basis points at 4.68%.
The US on Thursday announced new tariffs on 60 economies over alleged forced labor failures, effectively replacing President Donald Trump's temporary 10% global tariffs, CNBC reported.
"The snap-back in oil prices, as well as another turn of the screw in tariffs, complicates the job of central bankers everywhere, and lands with a thud ahead of the (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting," BMO said in a report Friday.
The probability that the US Federal Reserve will leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged next week moved to 62% on Friday from 87% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The odds of a quarter-percentage-point increase shot up to 38% from 13%.
In economic news, US private-sector output growth reached an eight-month high in July amid services boost, though price pressures intensified due to disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict, S&P Global's (SPGI) flash purchasing managers' index showed Friday.
New-home sales in the US increased last month for the first time since March as house prices continued to fall, though inventory remained elevated at more than a nine-month supply, official data showed.
In corporate news, Verizon Communications (VZ) raised its full-year earnings outlook amid phone subscriber gains in the second quarter. The company's shares jumped 5.8%.
American Express (AXP) was the worst performer on the Dow, down 4.3%. The payments company's second-quarter earnings topped Wall Street's estimates, but revenue missed expectations.
Gold was up 0.1% at $4,054.60 per troy ounce, while silver gained 0.6% to $58.40 per ounce.
