Pedestrians at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, July 24, 2025.

Brendon Thorne | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Markets in Australia and Japan mostly rose Friday, mirroring gains on Wall Street that saw both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reach new highs.

This comes as investors took in strong earnings from Apple and Caterpillar , looking past weaker-than-expected economic data and threats of escalation in Iran by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Brent crude prices had risen to top $126 a barrel after Axios reported that the U.S. military would brief Trump on potential action against Iran.

Brent closed at $110.40 a barrel, while U.S West Texas Intermediate was 0.61% up at $105.71, as of 7:46 p.m. ET.

On Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product rose at a 2% annualized pace in the first quarter.…