Stock Market Today: Dow in weekly loss as bond yield surge this week rattles bulls

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Investing.com -- The Dow closed lower Friday to end the week in the red as surging Treasury yields rattled markets after the Federal Reserve doubled down on its higher-for-longer interest rates stance this week.    

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, or 106 points, to end the week down 1.8%. The Nasdaq fell 0.1% and the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, taking weekly losses to 3.5% and 2.8% respectively, marking their worst week since March.

Fed’s officials lean into higher rates for longer stance; Treasury yields take breather but remain at multiyear highs

U.S. Federal Reserve officials said further rate hikes could be required as inflation remains too hot for comfort.

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said Friday it “will likely be appropriate” to not only lift rates higher but also hold them at restrictive levels for some time to bring back to the central bank’s 2%.

Boston Fed president Susan Collins, meanwhile, also said additional rate hikes are "not off the table."

Treasury yields gave up some gains, but remained at multiyear highs following huge swings higher earlier this week after the Fed skipped a rate hike on Wednesday, but reduced the number of rate cuts to two from four next year, suggesting rates will remain higher for even longer than many had expected. 

Apple’s iPhone 15 officially on sale worldwide

Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 15 hits shelves in 40 countries worldwide amid optimism that the latest iPhones will encourage a wave of upgrades from customers who have previously chosen to hang onto their older iPhone models.

“iPhone 15 pre-orders are still tracking much stronger than we and the Street originally expected and up roughly 10%-12% from iPhone 14 based on our analysis,” Wedbush said in a note.

Amazon unveils plans to Prime Video ads

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) gave up gains close just below flatline despite unveiling plans to include limited advertisements on its Prime Video streaming service starting next year.

The move to attract advertising dollars is expected to help offset rising costs as Amazon's spending on content jumped to nearly 30% last year.

Activision Blizzard jumps as takeover deal set to clear final hurdle

Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) rose more than 1% as its takeover by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is set to clear the final regulatory hurdle after UK said it would accept concessions offered by Microsoft.

"Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issue," The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said Friday. 

Ford makes progress in labor talks with United Auto Workers, but GM and Stellantis face expanded strikes

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) closed 2% higher as it averted expanded strikes at its plants after making progress in talks with the United Auto Workers labor union. 

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Stellantis NV (NYSE:STLA) were also higher even as the duo faced expanded strikes.

"At noon Eastern today, all parts distributions centers at General Motors and Stellantis will be on strike,” Union President Shawn Fain said Friday. "We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies come to their senses and come to the table with a serious offer," he added.