Wall Street closes high as investors welcome deal signs, SpaceX market debut

NEW YORK: U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday as investors welcomed signs of progress in US-Iran peace talks and closely watched the market debut of SpaceX, which surged in its first day of trading on Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 353.51 points, or 0.70%, to 51,202.26. The S&P 500 gained 37.16 points, or 0.50%, to close at 7,431.46, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 79.18 points, or 0.31%, to 25,888.84.

Market sentiment was supported by reports that the United States and Iran were moving closer to an agreement to end the conflict. A senior US administration official said a draft proposal was in place and had received positive feedback from both sides.

Investors also focused on SpaceX, which completed the largest public listing in US history. Shares of Elon Musk's company closed up 19.2% at $160.95, compared with the IPO price of $135 per share, giving the company a market capitalisation of approximately $2.1 trillion.

SpaceX is now among the largest publicly listed companies in the United States.

While SpaceX rallied, other space-related stocks retreated after strong gains ahead of the IPO. Rocket Lab fell 10.8%, Intuitive Machines declined 13.1%, and Planet Labs dropped 8.8%.

Tesla, another Musk-led company, gained 1.8% during the session.

Investors are now turning their attention to next week's Federal Reserve meeting, the first under Chair Kevin Warsh. Markets are watching for signals on the future direction of interest rates, with futures traders currently pricing in a 55% chance of a rate increase by December.

Adobe was among the day's biggest decliners, falling 6.8% after the departure of Chief Financial Officer Dan Durn.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index reached a record closing high, while all three major US indexes posted gains of roughly 7% for the week.

On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing stocks outnumbered decliners by more than two to one. Trading volume across US exchanges totalled 19.73 billion shares, compared with the 20-day average of 20.7 billion shares.