Wall Street spent another week watching yields hit multi-decade highs, oil hold above $100 and the case for tighter Federal Reserve policy harden. Once again, risk assets refused to break. Equities closed not far from records and corporate-credit spreads stayed in check, even as the global bond selloff roared and inflation fears returned.

Those worries were kept at bay by faith in AI-fueled earnings and economic resilience. A potential US-Iran breakthrough to open the Strait of Hormuz pulled down oil on Friday, helping drive the Nasdaq 100 up 3.3% in its biggest weekly gain since early August. Meta Platforms Inc. rallied nearly 13% on its Muse AI tool.

Behind it lurked waning consumer confidence and lingering inflation risks that hammered Treasuries. Some money flowed into new forms of cover. About $2.7 billion went into the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF in September, while JPMorgan's option-income ETFs drew roughly $800 million combined.

Within ETFs, the textbook 60/40 looks more like 80/20. Equity ETFs account for roughly 80% of all ETF assets, versus about 16% for fixed income, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. "Investors are actively looking at that proverbial 40% of their 60/40," said Adrian Helfert, CIO at Westwood. The 30-year Treasury yield hit 5.53% this week, its highest since 2004.