Tech Sector Fuels S&P 500 To New Highs While Crypto Endures Regulatory Challenges

The S&P 500 rode the positive sentiment from the tech sector this week, crossing the 4,300 mark for the first time since August as investors become increasingly hopeful the Fed will announce a pause on interest rate hikes next week.

The Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones also traded higher on Friday.

Apple Enters Virtual Reality

Apple Inc AAPL was one of the stars of the week, with the announcement of its first new product category since the launch of the Apple Watch in 2015. Apple's Vision Pro headset for augmented and virtual reality is the company's bet on spatial computing. The tech giant's stock hit an all-time high on Monday as Apple unveiled the new product at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, but lost some of its gains as the headset's price of $3,500 was announced. Shares regained some value throughout the week and were only down slightly on Friday from Monday's peak.

The product launch also put Meta Platforms Inc META in the spotlight, as the company —previously known as Facebook— has so far been the favorite among big tech firms to lead the shift into AR/VR in the years to come.

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EV Makers Unite

Shares of EV makers Tesla TSLA and General Motors GM were up this week as the two competitors announced that GM cars will be equipped to use Tesla charging stations by 2025. The news follows a similar agreement between Tesla and Ford F. Tesla stock was up 5.2% midday Friday and 13.4% on the week. General Motors was up 3.3% on Friday and 7.5% on the week.

Following a series of bank failures earlier this year, U.S. financial regulators are reportedly gearing up to implement new capital requirements for major banks, which could face the need to boost their assets by 20% as early as this month.

Tough Week For Crypto

The crypto world was shaken this week when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed new lawsuits against major crypto exchanges Binance.US and Coinbase Global Inc COIN. 

The commission argues that crypto assets are securities and their regulation should fall under SEC jurisdiction. Coinbase, the only U.S.-listed crypto exchange, lost more than 13% of its value this week. Bitcoin was affected on Tuesday but had recovered most of its losses by Friday. Ethereum experienced a similar trajectory.

What To Watch: The Fed's Federal Open Market Committee will meet next Tuesday and Wednesday, when a decision on whether to pause or continue interest rate hikes will be made.

On Tuesday, the Consumer Price Index for the month of May will be released, giving investors a window into the inflation pattern of the U.S. economy. The Producer Price Index will come out on Wednesday, and the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index for May will be released Friday.

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