Stock Market on Oct. 17, 2025: Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq close higher as U.S. stocks log weekly gains despite credit concerns at regional banks

Banks’ credit ‘cockroaches’ are spooking the stock market. Here’s what investors need to know. Why record cash in money-market funds won’t necessarily flood into stocks, bonds Gold is the hot topic at the IMF and World Bank meetings. Could that help put a lid on prices? U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, with all three major benchmarks booking weekly gains as investors shook off concerns about credit losses at regional banks and trade tensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 238.37 points, or 0.5%, to close at 46,190.61. The S&P 500 gained 34.94 points, or 0.5%, to end at 6,664.01 The Nasdaq Composite climbed 117.44 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 22,679.97. The S&P 500 saw its biggest weekly percentage gain since August, despite regional banking stocks falling under pressure this week amid concerns over some bad loans. Investors also seemed encouraged by President Donald Trump's remarks Friday suggesting a potential increase in tariffs on Chinese goods might not be as high as recently feared. For the week, the Dow rose 1.6%, the S&P 500 advanced 1.7% and the Nasdaq gained 2.1%. The S&P 500 booked its best week since the stretch ending Aug. 8, according to Dow Jones Market Data. An exchange-traded fund that invests in regional banks was climbing sharply Friday afternoon, but not enough to wipe out its losses this week after credit concerns emerged in the industry.. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF was up 1.8% in late-afternoon trading, according to FactSet data, at last check. Still, the ETF was on track for a weekly loss of around 1.7%. The S&P 500’s financials sector was rising 0.9% on Friday afternoon, according to FactSet data, at last check. That exceeded the S&P 500 index’s 0.6% increase at large, as the U.S. stock market approached the closing bell. Just one of the so-called Magnificent Seven megacap tech companies is expected to be a top 5 contributor to the S&P 500’s earnings growth in the third quarter, according to FactSet senior earnings analyst John Butters. Artificial-intelligence chip maker Nvidia Corp., one of the Big Tech stocks in the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF, is expected to contribute the most to the S&P 500’s third-quarter earnings growth on a year-over-year basis, Butters said in a note Friday. Boeing, Eli Lilly, Intel and Micron Technology are also expected to be among the top 5, he said. “In aggregate, the ‘Magnificent 7’ companies are expected to report year-over-year earnings growth of 14.9% for the third quarter,” said Butters. “Excluding these seven companies, the blended (combines actual and estimated results) earnings growth rate for the remaining 493 companies in the S&P 500 would be 6.7% for Q3 2025," he wrote, pointing to the chart below. The S&P 500, which has outsize exposure to Big Tech, was up 0.7% on Friday afternoon, according to FactSet data, at last check. Oil markets have been relatively weak recently, and that trend should continue given easing tensions in the Middle East and expectations for a supply surplus, said Tariq Zahir, managing members at Tyche Capital Advisors. U.S. benchmark prices for crude oil posted a 2.3% decline for the week for their third straight weekly declines, according to Dow Jones Market Data. November West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $57.54 a barrel on Friday. With theIsrael-Hamas cease-fire dealand the release of hostages, the situation in the oil-rich Middle East has calmed down for now, Zahir said. Global supplies, meanwhile, are expected “to be in abundance,” he said, adding that there have been “no real disruptions” in output this year during the Atlantic hurricane season, whileSaudi Arabia has been contributing more oilto the global market. Oil markets are likely to “continue to be weak in the days and weeks ahead,” said Zahir. “Any strength in the energy markets we feel will be an opportunity to sell into.” President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon offered additional conciliatory comments about China after analysts said the market’s gains on Friday morning had come in part from his remark that an additional 100% tariff on Chinese products would not be sustainable. The S&P 500 rose to fresh session highs as Trump spoke. “As of Nov. 1, I could move it up if I wanted — a 100% tariff over and above what we get now — so that would make it about 157%, and China doesn't want that, and they want to talk, and we're talking, and I think we'll make a deal that will be good for both,” Trump told reporters at the White House while answering questions during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that he thinks "things have de-escalated" and that he would be speaking to his Chinese counterpart late Friday, then meeting with him in Malaysia in about a week.