Wall Street ends higher as investors turn to earnings season

The S&P 500 rose ⁠to ⁠end just short of a record high ⁠on Friday, as a blockbuster Nasdaq debut of South Korea’s SK Hynix fueled optimism about memory-chip ​makers, while investors looked ahead to quarterly earnings season kicking off next week.

The artificial intelligence trade returned to the spotlight after SK Hynix ended ‌13% above its offering price at $170 ‌in a high-profile U.S. listing. The semiconductor company raised over $26 billion on Thursday by selling American Depositary Receipts priced at $149 each.

U.S. stocks ⁠added to gains ⁠after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran had asked to continue talks and the ​U.S. had agreed, but that the June ceasefire was “over.”

Attacks between the U.S. and Iran this week revived concerns that high energy prices could fuel more inflation and force the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

Reports from big U.S. banks will kick off the second-quarter earnings season next week. Analysts ​are expecting S&P 500 earnings to surge 24% from a year earlier, with technology companies driving much of the ⁠growth, according ⁠to LSEG I/B/E/S.

“This is a ⁠high-bar quarter with a ​narrow margin of error,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “The banks will ​give us a good read on ⁠the underlying economic strength and what consumers and businesses are doing.”

Thanks to increased corporate profit estimates, the S&P 500 is trading at about 20 times expected earnings, down from an earnings multiple of 21 in late May, even though the benchmark is trading near record highs.

Chipmakers have been among the biggest beneficiaries of this year’s AI-driven rally, fueled by expectations of heavy spending by hyperscalers. But concerns over ⁠stretched valuations and profit taking have recently injected volatility into the sector.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.42% to end ⁠the session at 7,575.39 points. It remains down 0.45% from its June 2 record-high close.

The Nasdaq gained 0.29% to 26,281.61 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29% to 52,637.01 points.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by information technology, up 1.65%, followed by a 1.46% gain in consumer discretionary.