Stocks Opened Flat; Dollar Hovered Highs

U.S. stocks opened flat on Friday, with the dollar hovered around its February highs, as investors stepped up bets that a growing U.S. economy would lead to higher interest rates. The Dow lately fell 2.57 points, or 0.01%, to 18,901.25. The S&P 500 was up 0.36 points, or 0.02%, to 2,187.48. The Nasdaq Composite gained 7.46 points, or 0.14%, to 5,341.43.

The dollar scaled to its highest level in almost 14 years against a basket of currencies on Friday, while U.S. bond yields were set for the biggest fortnightly rise in 15 years on bets U.S. inflation and interest rates are headed higher.

Oil futures put in a mixed performance Friday, with volatility expected to continue ahead of a meeting later this month of major oil producing countries aiming to strike a deal to cut output and stabilize prices. Brent crude was off 4 cents, or 0.1%, at $46.45 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $45.89 a barrel.

Volkswagen has broken a longstanding taboo on job cuts, conceding on Friday that it needs to become more profitable to survive what could be a major shift toward electric cars. As it seeks to recover from an emissions cheating scandal, Volkswagen said it would cut about 30,000 jobs worldwide, including 23,000 in Germany.

Fiat Chrysler is recalling nearly 89,000 cars and SUVs to fix possible fuel leaks or problems with windshield wipers. The most serious recall covers nearly 35,000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs worldwide from the 2016 model year.

DuPont will no longer contribute to active employees’ pension plans, a move that will affect the retirement of 13,000 workers, including 2,800 in Delaware.