-- Tech stocks were higher late Friday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 3.2% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) climbing 5.3%.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index rose 5.2%.
In corporate news, Amazon-backed (AMZN) Anthropic has signed a $1.8 billion computing deal with Akamai Technologies (AKAM), a cloud services provider, to help meet surging demand for its AI software, Bloomberg reported. Akamai shares surged 26%, and Amazon added 0.8%.
Apple (AAPL) and Intel (INTC) have reached a preliminary agreement under which Intel will make some of the chips powering Apple devices, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Apple shares rose 2.2%, and Intel jumped past 13%.
Apple and Meta Platforms (META) have publicly opposed a Canadian bill that could require them to break the encryption of their devices and services, Reuters reported. Canada's ruling Liberal Party proposed Bill C-22, which law enforcement officials claim would help them probe security threats earlier and take immediate action, the report said. Meta was down 1.1%.
Hedge fund TCI cut its stake in Microsoft (MSFT) to 1% of its portfolio at the end of March from 10% at the end of last year, the Financial Times reported. Microsoft shares shed 1.5%.