Stocks finished Friday higher as China tariff tensions ease, and worries about banking system health fade. American Express boosts the Dow

From a choppy start to start Friday, stocks slowly recovered the blahs that colored the market open.

The China worries eased because President Trump said he expects to meet with China President Xi Jinping while attending a meeting in South Korea.

The tariff rhetoric that moved markets on Thursday was toned down, although the threat to boost tariffs by 100% on imports from China are still in place. Trump did say 100% tariffs would not be sustainable, meaning the damage from a full-blown trade war might be too big.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 35 points, or 0.5%, to 6,664. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 117 points, or 0.5%, to 22,680.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the day's star, up 238 points to 46191, thanks to AmEx's 7.3% gain to $347. The index fell 301 points on Thursday as the market slumped on trade worries and banking fears.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which fell below 4% Thursday, was back above  that threshold — barely  — at 4.01% from 3.973% on Thursday.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, was off $1,59, or 1.6%, to $106,480. It fell 2.5% this week and is off 14.5% from its August all-time high of $126,273.

Gold was at a record $4,247 per troy ounce.

The polite term is that stocks are modestly Friday. It means this for now:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is higher, thanks in part to gains for American Express, pushing toward a 4% gain, because its core customers  — the affluent  — are doing what they do: They're continuing to spend.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index up but trailing the Dow.

American Express moved higher after reporting earnings of $4.14 a share on record revenue of $18.4 billion. The earnings beat Wall Street estimates for earnings of around $4 on revenue of $18 billion.

Visa was higher on Friday as well because customers are using their credit and debit cards like crazy. So, too, is Walmart, which is investing in technology to build up its online business.

Thursday's most visible losers  — Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp  — were sharply higher.

The Utah and Arizona banking companies freaked markets on Thursday with disclosures of surprising losses in their loan portfolios and helped set off the day's pullback.

Shares of Zions, Salt Lake City, were up 5.1% to $49.34. Western Alliance, the Phoenix bank, was up 2.2% to $71.94.

Related: Morgan Stanley lays out shock case for the S&P 500

The losers look as if they're falling because of worries about bubbles. Oracle is down 5.5% to $296 in part because investors seem skeptical of its artificial intelligence growth plans.

Gold (yes, gold) was down $52 to $4,254 per troy ounce. Silver dropped $2.67 to $50.625. Crude oil was up slightly at $57.06 per 52-gallon barrel.

A heat map of the S&P 500 as of 1:35 p.m. ET shows the distribution of modest declines and some winners.

At 1:35 p.m. ET the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up a modest 13 points to 6,658. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 31 points to 22,594.

But the Dow is the day's star, up 144 points to 46,096, thanks to AmEx's 6.5% gain to $344. The index fell 301 points on Thursday as the market slumped on trade worries and banking fears.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which fell below 4% Thursday, was back above  that threshold — barely  — at 4.001%.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, was off $2,786, or 2.2%, to $105,453. It's down 3.5% this week and off 15.3% from its August all-time high of $124.495. Bitcoin has fallen 15.3%.

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This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Oct 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Markets section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.