Global stock markets drifted modestly lower on Friday, settling into a quieter rhythm after a technology-led selloff had pulled major indices down hard earlier in the week, with the dollar also on course to record a net weekly loss. Anxiety over elevated borrowing costs and the debt-laden funding structures underpinning the artificial intelligence sector sent technology and chip stocks lower across the week.

Hotter-than-expected inflation figures, published Wednesday, led traders to increase their bets on further US rate hikes, while a separate pool of money flowed into Treasuries and other government bonds at the same time. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted declines by Friday's close, leaving each index with a net loss across the trading week. Despite surrendering an early advance, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week on positive ground.

Losses on the day fell to technology and communication services, while utilities and energy stocks climbed to head the list of gainers. CoreWeave's stock dropped 12% on the day and has given back roughly a quarter of its value over the course of the week, as investors turned a closer eye toward how the build-out of large-scale AI infrastructure is being financed.

Three major equity benchmarks posted losses on the day, with the Nasdaq Composite taking the steepest hit at 2.1%, while the S&P 500 retreated 1.09% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.34%. Across the trading week, the MSCI World Equity Index shed 0.40%, leaving it in negative territory for the period.

Trading in Europe held up comparatively well, with the STOXX 600 index posting a 0.72% advance after Thursday's broader market decline weighed less heavily on the region. The FTSE 100 index in London edged upward by 0.38 per cent. Both indexes ended the week in positive territory.

Tom Plumb, who manages the Plumb Balanced Fund, observed that the way data centres attract capital is showing early signs of strain — a reflection of broader uncertainty about which players will hold their ground over time — though his fund's view holds that a select group of participants will pull ahead, with one caveat: how much financing capacity those players can access deserves watching, because companies tend to hit difficulty not when their balance sheets turn negative, but for reasons that lie elsewhere. Funding pressures, Plumb noted, tend to be where instability takes root.

Share prices across Asian markets drifted mostly upward and government bonds steadied as traders reversed part of what they had done the previous session. Shares listed on the Indonesian stock exchange recorded their steepest single-day decline in roughly 25 years after MSCI, which compiles widely followed benchmark indexes, announced a downgrade of the country's market from emerging-market classification and set out a timeline for its removal from those benchmarks.

A retreat in Treasury yields weighed on the dollar index, pushing it 0.26% lower and putting the currency on course for its first weekly decline after four consecutive weeks of gains. Ongoing nervousness in markets about the trajectory of artificial intelligence has the potential to put downward pressure on the dollar, analysts noted.

Trading activity pushed the common European currency up from a 17-month trough it had been sitting at in recent sessions. The euro was trading at $1.1238, edging up by 0.16% in the most recent reading. The yen was trading at 157.98 to the dollar, edging fractionally higher against the US currency, notching a 0.01% uptick in its exchange rate.

Sovereign debt markets in Europe saw yields tick upward, while across the Atlantic, US Treasury yields pulled back from the losses posted earlier in the session. Benchmark yields on German 10-year debt edged up by 1.14 basis points, landing at 3.421%. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes edged up 0.17 basis points, pushing their yield to 5.085%.

Demand for government bonds picked up across the week, pulling yields lower, as traders looked to reduce exposure amid questions over the financial health of companies tied to artificial intelligence. Debt markets across G7 nations were on course for their strongest seven-day run in about three months.

Brent crude futures pushed up to $109.86 per barrel — a 3.72% gain on the day — leaving oil positioned for consecutive weekly advances as market participants assessed the possibility of supply disruptions tied to unrest in the Middle East. Incident levels near the Strait of Hormuz have climbed noticeably over the preceding ten days. Buoyed by a softer dollar, the price of gold edged up 0.07% to settle at $4,167.14 per ounce.