Wall Street’s edged higher on Friday as gains in technology stocks and easing oil prices supported sentiment, while investors tracked diplomatic efforts to end the war in the Middle East and weighed persistent inflation concerns.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.34 per cent to 51,526.74, the S&P 500 gained 0.18 per cent to 7,718.15 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.21 per cent to 26,997.07 in late-morning trading.Technology stocks led gains, with the sector up 0.8 per cent. Microsoft rose 3.3 per cent and was the biggest boost to the S&P 500 after unveiling new capabilities for its Copilot application, including a coding tool and an always-on artificial intelligence agent.Qualcomm gained 5.1 per cent, while Dell rose 5 per cent. Nvidia was marginally higher after falling 0.9 per cent on Thursday, when it was the biggest drag on the S&P 500.Akamai Technologies jumped 7.3 per cent after the cloud services company announced an $11.6 billion multiyear deal with AI firm Anthropic. People rose 9 per cent after a report said MGM Resorts International was considering a bid for the online services company.AI-related optimism has helped markets this week, with investors betting that heavy spending on artificial intelligence will eventually translate into stronger productivity and economic growth. The technology sector was the best-performing S&P 500 sector for the week, while both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were on track for weekly gains.“The amount of money being deployed into the economy from AI investment is just so strong, and we haven’t even seen the productivity piece of it,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group, as quoted by AP. “There’s a little bit of that the market is weighing into the valuation and that’s one of the reasons why you really can’t get much of a selloff.”Oil prices also supported stocks early in the session. Brent crude fell but remained above $100 a barrel, as markets reacted to reports that US and Iranian negotiators were exploring a phased path to end the conflict that could involve Tehran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Washington lifting its economic blockade.Markets have been particularly sensitive to developments around the strait, a key route for global oil shipments. Hopes of a deal have pushed prices lower, while renewed uncertainty has driven them higher.A separate batch of economic data pointed to continued strength in the US economy. Orders for core capital goods, a closely watched measure of business investment, rose more than expected in August, helped by strong spending related to artificial intelligence.But gains were limited by concerns over inflation and elevated government borrowing. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note was around 5.2%, close to its highest level since 2007, compared with 3.97% before the Iran war began.A University of Michigan survey showed US consumers expect inflation to reach 4.6% over the next year, up from 4% in the previous month. Consumer sentiment was better than economists had expected but fell to its lowest level in four months.Higher bond yields can weigh on equities by increasing borrowing costs and making stocks, particularly richly valued growth companies, less attractive relative to bonds.Traders now see a 66.4% chance of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by at least 25 basis points in October, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, up from about 50% earlier this week.Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were lower, offset by gains in technology. Market breadth remained weak, with declining stocks outnumbering advancing ones on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.Investors were also watching developments in US-China relations after President Donald Trump said he had a “very productive meeting” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. US Ambassador to China David Perdue said Trump had told Xi that any Chinese support for Iran was unacceptable.In Europe, stocks were mixed, while Asian markets had posted larger moves earlier in the day. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1%.