Peter Nurse 

Investing.com — U.S. stock prices held steady Friday, as President Joe Biden continued his European trip to cement Western unity against Russia. Already, the U.S. has agreed to an Energy Deal that will decrease the EU’s dependency on Russia for its natural gas.

At 1:52 PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 39 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 was up 0.1%, higher and the Nasdaq was down 0.5%.

Wall Street’s main averages finished higher on Thursday. They were up by over 350 points or 1% and rose 1.4% and 1.9% respectively. Both of these indices are poised for their second consecutive week of winning, while the Dow remains flat.

Biden met with American soldiers in Poland Friday. Poland is a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and has received millions of Ukrainian refugees. 

Following meetings held in Brussels with NATO and European allies on Thursday, the President called on Russia to be removed form the G20 group. He also agreed to increase aid for Ukraine and to impose more sanctions against Moscow. 

Federal Reserve officials maintained their hawkish guidance in the U.S. after they raised the benchmark loan rate by 25% at last week’s meeting. It was the first increase in lending rates since December 2018.

Charles Evans, Chicago Fed President, said that central banks must raise interest rates in this and the next year to curb inflation. This is before it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

The Big Tech stocks will be the focus of attention in corporate finance Friday, after Margrethe Vestager, EU Antitrust Chief said that tough new rules against these tech titans were expected to enter into effect in October.

Apple (NASDAQ: ) will be the focus of attention following a Bloomberg report that said Apple is considering launching subscription plans to its hardware.

As leaders from the main European countries try to reduce their dependence on Russia, oil prices have also stabilized Friday following a U.S.-European Union deal that will supply Europe more U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas.

In addition, it was reported that the United States and its allies are discussing an additional coordinated release of oil stockpiles.

Futures were trading up 0.4% to $1122.75 per barrel by 1:54 AM ET. The contract was 0.2% higher at $119.19. Brent was around 10% higher than WTI and WTI was 7%.

Also, the price of gold fell 0.5% to $1.953/oz.

This article was published originally at 7:04 AM ET, and has since been updated.