Wall Street climbs as investors buy AI stocks; Microsoft rallies

Wall Street experienced a rise on Friday, propelled by a surge in AI-related technology stocks, particularly those of Microsoft. However, high oil prices and a recent increase in U.S. Treasury yields kept investors cautious. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq markets saw gains, marking a volatile week marked by uncertainty surrounding which industries would benefit or suffer from artificial intelligence advancements, and by fears of a U.S. military conflict with Iran, coupled with a spike in U.S. Treasury yields.

Microsoft's stock saw a 3.3 percent increase, raising its gain for 2026 to 7 percent. The software company unveiled new features in its Copilot app, such as a coding tool and an always-on AI agent. Akamai Technologies jumped 6 percent following a $11.6 billion cloud services agreement with AI powerhouse Anthropic. The deal includes a warrant that could grant Anthropic up to 5 percent of Akamai's shares, which is seen as a positive sign by some analysts, indicating ongoing investment and deal-making in the industry. Qualcomm and Dell also saw increases of 5.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.