US stocks rallied Friday, snapping a four-day losing streak, as oil prices…

US stocks rallied Friday, snapping a four-day losing streak, as oil prices pulled back sharply after a week of gains tied to Middle East tensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 509 points (0.98%) to close at 52,573, the S&P 500 gained 0.86% to 7,657, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.96% to 26,333. Falling crude oil, the raw material behind gasoline and diesel prices, eased inflation worries even though the day's Consumer Price Index report, a key gauge of how fast prices are rising, came in hotter than expected. That mattered because investors are bracing for the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, to raise interest rates at its meeting next week; markets are pricing in roughly a 70% chance of a quarter-point hike. Tech stocks led the rally after Oracle reported its cloud-computing revenue more than doubled last quarter, a sign AI infrastructure demand remains strong. That optimism lifted server and networking makers: Hewlett Packard Enterprise jumped more than 11%, and Cisco rose over 3%, as investors bet the AI buildout still has room to run.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) fell 0.61%, or 37.42 points, to close at 6,061.81 on Friday, its second straight decline, as global oil prices climbing back above $100 a barrel and the peso hitting a fresh record low fed worries about faster inflation. The peso weakened to ₱62.68 per US dollar, its third all-time low this month, as persistent dollar strength and elevated oil costs discouraged investors from holding peso-denominated assets. Foreign investors pulled a net ₱999 million out of local stocks. Nearly every sector fell, led by mining and oil issuers, down 3.27%; property was the only sector to hold flat. The selling reflects a concern that's been building for months: the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country's central bank, raised its benchmark interest rate to 5% in late August, its third hike this year, specifically to fight inflation, which eased slightly to 6.1% in August but remains well above the BSP's 2%-4% target. Rising oil prices threaten to reverse that progress and could pressure the BSP to tighten policy further, which would raise borrowing costs across the economy.

Friday's action in both markets traces back to the same commodity: oil. US stocks rallied partly because crude prices pulled back on the day, but oil remains sharply higher for the week and above $100 a barrel, the same level that's weighing on Philippine investors, since the Philippines imports nearly all its oil and higher crude quickly shows up in transport fares, electricity bills, and food costs. There's also a currency link: with US inflation data still running hot, traders are betting the Federal Reserve will raise rates next week, which tends to strengthen the US dollar. A stronger dollar is bad news for the peso, which already hit a third record low this month at ₱62.68 per dollar. A weaker peso makes imported oil even more expensive in peso terms, adding to the same inflation pressure the BSP has been fighting with its own rate hikes. For overseas Filipino workers sending money home, though, the weaker peso means each dollar remitted converts to more pesos, a rare silver lining for households even as costs rise for everyone else.