By Heard Editors
No new talks yet. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are being dispatched to Islamabad for talks with Iranian officials, but it was still unclear as of Friday afternoon if those talks would actually happen.
Tech jumps while Dow slips. Uncertainty on the state of the conflict weighed on the market, though was offset some by a broad rally across tech stocks. The Dow slipped 80 points to close at 49231, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.6%. Strong gains in chip stocks played a major role; Nvidia jumped more than 4% while AMD surged 14%.
Intel keeps the streak going. The chip maker's share price rocketed nearly 24% Friday following strong first-quarter earnings. The stock has now more than doubled so far this year as the company's prospects have improved, though its valuation against projected earnings remains at a record high.
Google ups its bet on Anthropic. Parent company Alphabet could invest as much as $40 billion under the new deal. Alphabet's stock rose 1.6% on Friday.
Powell probe ends. The Justice Department said it would end its criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. That should clear an obstacle that has stalled Kevin Warsh's confirmation as his successor.
This analysis comes from the Journal's Heard on the Street team. Subscribe to their free daily afternoon newsletter here.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2026 17:30 ET (21:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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