Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed mostly unchanged on Friday amid escalating U.S.-N.Korea tensions after President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong un traded insults amid expectations that Pyongyang is preparing to test a nuclear bomb.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 22349.59. The S&P 500 closed 0.06% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6426.92, down 0.46%.
Investors had to content with renewed political uncertainty as President Donald Trump reacted to Kim Jong-un’s earlier insult calling Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard" and hinting that Pyongyang was preparing to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.
Some analysts were quick to downplay the latest act of provocation from the Kim Jong-un led nation, insisting that markets will shrug off geopolitical uncertainty as the threat of military action is somewhat improbable.
“As long as there is no military action from the either side, markets will continue to ignore the threats from North Korea,” said Wouter Sturkenboom, senior investment strategist at Russell Investments.
The uptick in safe-haven demand weighed on sentiment but losses were limited by a surge in energy, one of the best performing sectors of the session, as crude futures notched a third weekly win on Friday.
On the corporate front, shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) dropped for the third straight day, suffering its worst week in more than year as the tech giant struggles to shake off recent criticism of its latest smartwatch the Apple Watch 3.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) up 2%, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) up 2% and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) up 0.7%
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) down 1.1%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) down 1% and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) down 0.7%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.