S&P 500 posted its best week since August: debt crisis and trade war receded

Major stock indices in the US ended the week in the plus, with the broad market index S&P 500 showing the best growth in five trading days since August. Traders on Friday reduced concerns about the credit market crisis, and they also increased hope for a reduction in the heat in the confrontation between the U.S. and China. Donald Trump said he is likely to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month and also acknowledged that 100% duties on Chinese goods cannot be sustained for long.

- In trading on October 17, 2025 the broad market index S&P 500 rose by 0.53%. At the end of the week, the S&P 500 added 1.7% thanks to a strong start to the reporting season for the third quarter, writes CNBC.

- The Nasdaq Composite index of technology sector shares also added 0.52%. Since the beginning of the week, the index has grown by 2.1%.

- The index of 30 "blue chips" of the U.S. market Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday with growth of 0.52%, and at the end of the week added about 1.6%.

- The Russel 2000 index of small-capitalization companies' shares is the only one among the main indices of the U.S. stock market that fell - by 0.6%.

- Gold retreated from its highs as it fell more than 2% to $4186 an ounce on Friday.

- "The Cboe Wall Street Fear Index (VIX) declined to 20.78 points on Friday amid rising stocks, signaling a decline in anxiety.

- The yield on 10-year government bonds rose back above 4%.

The growth of stock indices on October 17 accelerated in the afternoon after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would hold talks with his Chinese counterpart. In addition, President Donald Trump said that it remains likely that he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the month. These statements helped ease market fears about the possible introduction of additional 100 percent duties on Chinese goods from November 1, CNBC writes .

Shares of companies that collapsed the banking sector on Thursday began to recover losses. Traders bet on the fact that bad loans are isolated cases and not signs of a systemic crisis. Debt difficulties at Zions and Western Alliance banks a day earlier caused a sell-off in the sector and a decline in the whole market. Zions securities rose 5.8% on Friday after Baird analysts upgraded their rating, saying the scale of the capitalization decline was clearly out of proportion to the estimated losses. Shares of investment bank Jefferies, hurt by bankrupt auto parts retailer First Brands, rose 6% after a rating upgrade from Oppenheimer to 'Outperform'.

Also relieving some of the tension was Fifth Third Bancorp's reporting data: the bank's earnings rose in the latest quarter despite mounting credit losses related to the bankruptcy of subprime auto lender Tricolor. Shares of the bank added about 1%. The Regional Banks ETF rose 1.5% on Friday, though it remained down 2% since the start of the week.

- "We don't believe there are systemic credit risks in the market," CNBC quoted Vital Knowledge's Adam Crisafulli as saying. - All we're seeing now is the result of a few individual stories (First Brands and Tricolor), while overall credit quality, by contrast, looks even better than expected."

- "When we analyze the situation deeper and try to see if the credit cycle has started to turn - which is what the market is paying attention to right now - we find no evidence," Mark Pinto, head of global private credit at Moody's Ratings, told CNBC. - That's the situation at the moment. That could change, but if you look at the asset quality metrics over the last few quarters, the deterioration is minimal."

- "In addition to lingering uncertainty around the U.S.-China trade war, sluggish global growth and inflated asset valuations, credit risks at regional U.S. banks have also added to the list of growing concerns," Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at City Index and Forex.com, said in an interview with Bloomberg. - But sometimes just one Trump post on social media can dramatically turn investor sentiment in the direction of risk".

- "October brought with it a frightening spike in market volatility," Truist Advisory Services chief strategist Keith Lerner told Bloomberg. - After a prolonged rally and heightened optimism among investors, markets were vulnerable to negative surprises. "We see deeper pullbacks as an opportunity to strengthen positions as the bull market is still credible."

- "Although the bull market in equities is entering its fourth year, we believe it has the potential for further gains," Ulrike Hoffmann-Burhardi, managing director at UBS Global Wealth Management, told Bloomberg.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor