Stocks Shrug Off Bank Fears, AMEX Jumps: What's Moving Markets Friday?

Author: Piero Cingari | October 17, 2025 12:56pm

Wall Street shrugged off credit concerns that battered bank stocks on Wednesday, with large-cap indices posting slight gains by midday trading in New York, setting up for a positive weekly close.

• AXP is among today’s top performers. Watch the momentum here.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 6,650 points, nearly erasing Thursday's losses, while both the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones edged 0.3% higher.

After suffering their worst day since April on Wednesday, financials and bank stocks rebounded. The SPDR Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) climbed 1.1%, while the Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF) added 0.5%.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. is "going to do fine with China," indicating that the extra 100% tariff on Chinese goods he threatened to impose at the start of November was "not sustainable," but added that Beijing had "forced him into this position" and the levies "could stand."

American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) was the day's top gainer, with shares jumping 6.2% on stronger-than-expected earnings and upbeat guidance.

Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) dropped more than 6%, leading losses within the S&P 500, after the company announced highly ambitious growth targets for its AI cloud division — a move that drew skepticism from Wall Street analysts.

Gold's relentless rally came to a halt Friday, with the yellow metal plunging 3% to $4,200 per ounce amid profit-taking. Silver slumped 5.9% to $50.90.

Risk-off sentiment extended to crypto markets. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 1.6% to $106,000, marking its fourth straight session of losses, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) dropped 2.5% to $3,800.

Friday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %
Dow Jones	46,036.97	0.3%
Nasdaq 100	24,695.46	0.3%
S&P 500	6,632.91	0.2%
Russell 2000	2,435.86	-1.2%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) edged 0.2% higher to $608.21.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.2% to $460.52.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) inched 0.2% up to $601.32.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) dropped 1.2% $242.22.
• The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) outperformed, up 0.5%; the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) lagged, down 0.6%.

Friday’s Earnings Movers

• American Express Company up 6.3%
• Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:IBKR) down 3.1%
• CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) up 2.8%
• Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE:TFC) up 3.4%
• SLB N.V. (NYSE:SLB) down 2.5%
• State Street Corp (NYSE:STT) down 3.3%
• Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) up 1.1%
• Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) up 0.7%
• Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) down 0.2%
• Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) up 2.1%
• Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) up 1.4%
• Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) down 0.4%

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