Stocks open higher; S&P 500 heads for another weekly gain

Major indexes are mostly higher in early trading on Wall Street Friday as a tick up in bond yields helped lift bank stocks. Technology companies, which have typically moved lower when bond yields have risen, fell modestly.

The S&P 500 was up 0.2% as of 10 a.m. Eastern, on track for its fourth weekly gain in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.2%.

Bond yields were moving higher after falling earlier in the week. The yield of the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.57%. However bond yields are down noticeably from the highs they hit earlier in the month, when the 10-year note traded at a yield of 1.75%.

Technology stocks were modestly lower. Apple fell 0.5%, Microsoft fell 0.4%, Tesla fell 2% and Facebook was down 1%.

Investors continue to be focused on the global economic recovery. China’s economy expanded at a sizzling annual pace of 18.3% in the first quarter of the year, the government reported Friday. The world's second-largest economy contracted, as most of the world did, during the first months of the pandemic.

Investors are welcoming a wave of encouraging economic reports showing how hungry Americans are to spend again, how fewer workers are losing their jobs and how much fatter corporate profits are getting. New data on retail sales and jobless claims Thursday reinforced the view that the recovery is accelerating.

The market now heads into the busiest two weeks of earnings season. Expectations are high for companies to show they are recovering from the pandemic or have roadmaps to show when profits will return. Dozens of companies will report next week, including Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Communications, Dow Chemical and American Airlines.