The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose nearly 1% to notch a new record high on Friday, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.6% to close above 5,800 for the first time ever.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) increased about 0.3% after closing out Thursday with small losses.

Financials (XLF) outperformed on Friday, with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) jumping after third quarter results came in better than expected.

Meanwhile, Consumer Discretionary (XLY) stocks ended the session slightly lower, weighed by shares of EV giant Tesla (TSLA) following the reveal of a highly anticipated driverless robotaxi.

Next week, earnings season continues in full swing, with Citi (C), United Airlines (UAL), AI chip equipment maker ASML (ASML), Netflix (NFLX), and American Express (AXP) expected to report.

On the cusp of another earnings season, it seems like quarterly results are far from the forefront of investors' minds, writes Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman.

After a hot jobs report and a consumer inflation reading that didn’t put to bed concerns about rising prices, there’s more confusion than usual about what the Federal Reserve will do next with rates. Hopes for China stimulus and its ripple effect have sprung up, but the picture there remains murky as well, as evidenced by the extreme volatility in Chinese stocks. Throw in a couple of literal hurricanes and a figurative one in the Mideast, and investors have a lot to weigh when making decisions.

“I think this earnings season is going to be pretty tricky,” Ohsung Kwon, US and Canada equity strategist at Bank of America, said in a recent interview. "Now that the easing cycle has started, what are companies going to say about any early indications of improvement given the lower rate environment?”

Wherever the forecasts land, “As long as companies have managed through macro headwinds and see early signs of improvement from lower rates, stocks should get rewarded,” Kwon wrote.

Read the full story on investor challenges for the weeks ahead here.

Boeing stock (BA) bounced up 2% from its its 52-week low on Friday as the plane maker took a tougher stance with its biggest union after a breakdown in negotiations this week left little hope of a quick resolution to an ongoing labor strike.

Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré reports that the plane maker on Thursday filed an unfair labor practice charge against representatives of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), claiming "bad-faith bargaining."

The move comes days after bargaining talks involving mediators broke down and Boeing withdrew its contract proposal on Tuesday.

The labor strike is proving costly on several fronts for Boeing.

The work stoppage has interrupted the company's recovery efforts to ramp up production of its bestselling 737 Max jets to 38 per month by the end of the year, up from roughly 25 per month in June and July.

Earlier this week S&P Global placed Boeing on CreditWatch Negative, which increased the likelihood of a downgrade if the work stoppage continues until the end of the year. Riskier credit makes it more difficult and expensive for companies to borrow money.

Read the full story on the implications for the ongoing strike here.

The start of earnings season gave stocks a jolt Friday afternoon as big US banks impressed and offered positive momentum after a hot inflation print and unchanged wholesale inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.6%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained close to 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) increased 0.2% after closing out Thursday with small losses.

All three major gauges were set to score wins for the week, with the Dow up 0.9%, the S&P set to gain close to 1%, and the Nasdaq on course for 1% gain.

Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page during afternoon trading on Friday:

BlackRock (BLK): The investment company rose 3% during afternoon trading on Friday after reporting third quarter earnings that surpassed investor expectations, propelling its stock higher. The investment giant posted record assets under management (AUM) for the quarter, reaching $11.5 trillion.

Tesla (TSLA): Shares of the electric vehicle maker sank more than 8% Friday morning after CEO Elon Musk revealed the long-awaited driverless robotaxi on Thursday night, which left investors wanting more. The Cybercab features no steering wheels or pedals, and is designed to be fully autonomous.

AO Smith (AOS): The maker of water heaters sank more than 5% after the company cut its earnings outlook for the fiscal year, which also dropped below analyst expectations. AO Smith also lowered its net sales forecasts

Trump Media (DJT): Shares of the former president's media and tech company rose nearly 8% Friday morning, following an announced release of its Truth+ streaming app for Android devices on Thursday. The gains build on momentum from earlier in the week — its longest rally since June — as investors also assess Trump's standing in the presidential election.

Shares of the ride-hailing company Uber (UBER) and its chief rival, Lyft (LYFT), both rose more than 10% Friday afternoon, with Uber reaching record levels as investors appeared unimpressed with Tesla's robotaxi unveiling. Tesla has envisioned a fleet of driverless taxis that users could summon on their phones, which could pose new competition to the app-based transportation platforms.

But analysts critical of the demonstration said Musk failed to deliver key details on the self-driving taxi rollout, giving the transportation companies a boost.

Jefferies analysts called Tesla’s $30,000 robotaxi, dubbed the Cybercab, a “toothless taxi” in a note to investors Friday morning, adding that Tesla has “ambitious targets" with “little evidence of feasibility.”

On the other hand, more bullish analysts see an optimistic future for Tesla's ambitious plans. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said in a note on Friday that Tesla could ramp to 100,000 Cybercabs by 2027, with production possibly beginning in 2026.

Investors pushed the stocks of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) higher Friday after third quarter results looked better than feared, a demonstration of resilience from the banking giants that points to the possibility of a soft landing for the US economy, reports Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith.

One JPMorgan executive was even willing to connect the bank’s performance to that soft landing, citing strength on the part of the lender’s consumer and corporate customers. An economy that achieves a soft landing is one where inflation slows without causing a recession.

"Broadly, I would say these earnings are consistent with the soft-landing narrative," the bank's CFO, Jeremy Barnum, told reporters. And the fact that companies are optimistic, he added, is "pretty consistent with this kind of Goldilocks economic situation."

The results kicked off a third quarter earnings season as lenders face questions about how a new Federal Reserve rate-cutting cycle will affect the biggest US banks over the next year.

Read more here.

The initial reaction on Wall Street to Tesla's robotaxi unveiling was underwhelming, sending the stock about 8% lower. But to the company's supporters, the event delivered on Musk's vision of pushing the electric vehicle maker to be more than merely a car company.

Dan Ives, a vocal supporter of Musk's autonomous future, agreed with the skeptics asking for more details about Tesla's ambitious autonomous vision. But in a note on Friday, he said, "We strongly disagree with the notion that last night was a disappointment as we would argue the opposite seeing Cybercab with our own eyes and the massive improvements in Optimus which we interacted with throughout the evening."

Optimus is Tesla's humanoid robot, several of which walked into the event space on their own during the demonstration. Musk said the robots would likely cost between $20,000 and $30,000 when they eventually go on sale years from now — a claim he has made in the past.

"Optimus is going to become a bigger piece of the Tesla story and now there is no credit for this ground breaking robotic future in Tesla's current valuation," said Ives.

Here are some of the stocks leading Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page during morning trading on Friday:

Tesla (TSLA): Shares of the electric vehicle maker sank more than 8% Friday morning after CEO Elon Musk revealed the long-awaited driverless robotaxi on Thursday night, which left investors wanting more. The Cybercab features no steering wheels or pedals and is designed to be fully autonomous.

JPMorgan (JPM): The financial services company rose almost 5% after reporting third quarter earnings that revealed a surprise gain in net interest income and raised its full-year forecast.

Uber (UBER): Shares of the ride-hailing company and its chief rival, Lyft (LYFT), both rose more than 8% Friday, as investors appeared unimpressed with Tesla's robotaxi unveiling, which could pose new competition to the app-based transportation platforms.

Trump Media (DJT): Shares of the former president's media and tech company rose nearly 8% Friday morning, following an announced release of its Truth+ streaming app for Android devices on Thursday. The gains build on momentum from earlier in the week — its longest rally since June — as investors also assess Trump's standing in the presidential election.

US stocks traveled without strong direction Friday morning as the big US banks kicked off earnings season and investors considered how a hotter-than-expected inflation report and unchanged wholesale inflation would steer Federal Reserve policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.4% in morning trading, paring deeper premarket losses as big bank financial updates rolled in. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) ticked over the flat line, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.3% after closing out Thursday with small losses.

All three major gauges were on track for wins for the week.

Wells Fargo (WFC), BlackRock (BLK), JPMorgan (JPM), and BNY Mellon (BK) stocks rose Friday morning as investors cheered the first wave of bank earnings.

Wells Fargo jumped 5% after its earnings per share handily beat Wall Street's forecasts. Its adjusted earnings per share of $1.52 surpassed the analyst consensus of $1.25 per share, according to Bloomberg data. Still, the bank reported a drop in net interest income and its profit fell 11%.

BNY Mellon and BlackRock also surpassed Wall Street's forecasts. BNY Mellon ticked up 0.5% after posting a 16% jump in profit. BlackRock rose 1.7% after reporting a record of $11.5 trillion in assets.

JPMorgan (JPM) rose 3.5% as its Wall Street operations beat expectations, even though profits fell, Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith reports. Read the full story on what JPM's third quarter results say about the US economy here.

Trump Media (DJT) stock jumped 11% premarket Friday before paring gains as the company continues its week-long rally. DJT was up 6% to $25.66 after the bell.

Shares jumped 17% during Thursday's session following the company's launch of its Truth+ streaming app, which makes Trump Media TV programming available to Android users. The stock's climb extended gains earlier this week as investors responded to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's surprise appearance at a Trump rally over the weekend, Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal reported.

DJT is beginning to recover after hitting its lowest level since the social media company went public last month. Shares remain far below highs above $70 reached in March. The stock has been volatile and likened to a meme stock, with investors responding to the ups and downs of the former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign.

Read Alexandra Canal's recent coverage of the stock here.

Over a piece of braised short rib at the NYC Marriott Marquis last night, I got to sit among some amazing business news journalists at the annual Knight-Bagehot dinner and listen to a 20-minute chat between journalist Alan Murray and billionaire financier at Citadel, Ken Griffin.

A lot of us in the room thought it was weird to see Griffin do the keynote fireside chat. A billionaire who got pulled through the mud during the meme stock craze waxing poetic about how reading Wall Street Journal articles about KKR's Henry Kravis when he was a teen inspired him to become a hedge fund king? The eye rolls were plentiful in the room.

However, Griffin did give us journos some red meat at the end of the conversation.

“I know who I am voting for, and it won’t be with a smile on my face,” Griffin said.

I suppose that means Harris, but who knows!

Reuters has the details, and Kathy Jones at the Schwab Center for Financial Research has some quick analysis:

Tesla stock (TSLA) sank 6% premarket Friday as investors reacted to the EV maker's robotaxi unveiling.

Elon Musk has lofty ideas about the future of Tesla's self-driving vehicles, and the recent event tested Wall Street's appetite for that vision. Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports that the "We, Robot" event left investors wanting more.

Musk unveiled a $30,000 autonomous "Cybercab," arriving sometime in 2026. Tesla did not reveal its upcoming lower-cost “next-gen” model, which many analysts had expected, Subramanian reported. The sub-$30K next-gen EV will arrive later this year, Tesla has previously confirmed.

Tesla stock has been on a wild ride recently, rising on prior hopes for the robotaxi unveiling before falling after the company's third quarter deliveries disappointed. Tesla shares are down 8% from last year.

Uber stock (UBER), meanwhile, rose 5% in premarket trading.

Read the full story on Tesla's robotaxi debut here.

DETROIT (Reuters) — Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLA, STLAM.MI) confirmed on Thursday that CEO Carlos Tavares would retire at the end of his contract in early 2026 and announced major senior management changes as it struggles to turn around its lagging North American operations.

Reasonable quarter out of JPMorgan (JPM) this morning. Read more from our banking reporter David Hollerith.

I hopped on JPM's earnings media call and asked CFO Jeremy Barnum his views on housing post Fed rate cut. All in all, it didn't sound like a housing boom was taking shape with lower rates — but activity has picked up.

Here's what Barnum told me (emphasis ours):

“What we did see, as you kind of would expect, is a pickup in mortgage applications and a tiny bit of increase in refinancings there, which, again, you would also expect. But it's worth noting, when it comes to mortgages, that all of the sequential and year-on-year changes are coming off a very low base, and it remains the case that the vast majority of the stock of outstanding mortgages right now in this country are below 6% with a lot of them still even below 5%.

So it would take a really big rally in the long end of the yield curve to see a significant pickup in refinancing. The house view on home prices, you know, I think generally you've got a tension there between possibly a slightly weakening economy that should create a little bit more supply, there's a little bit more construction, but there's generally a housing shortage in this country. So the housing market seems to me is still a little bit stuck, I would say.”