LONDON - Global stock markets fell and safe havens such as bonds and the Japanese yen gained on Friday.

At 9:54 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average  was down 65.18 points, or 0.26 percent, at 25,335.46, and the S&P 500  was down 2.31 points, or 0.08 percent, at 3,027.42.

But the Nasdaq Composite was up 45.26 points, or 0.48 percent, at 9,414.25, with technology-focused firms Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc being a bright spot.

European stocks opened lower, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index down 0.86 percent. Germany's DAX fell 1.2 percent, Britain's FTSE 100 by 7 percent and France's CAC 40 by 1 percent. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.4 percent.

Earlier in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei retreated from a three-month high and the yen rose to a two-week high of 107.06 against the dollar. Bonds rose.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was 0.8 percent lower and has lost about 3 percent in the two weeks.

In bond markets, yields on benchmark 10-year US Treasuries fell to 0.6656 percent, more than 100 basis points below where they began 2020.

MAY MARCHES ON

Despite the gathering tension and the near-daily release of grim economic data, enormous global stimulus seems to have propped up stocks. The S&P 500 is up 4 percent for the month and on track for its best May since 2009.

A rally in the risk-sensitive Aussie dollar is slowing, but the currency has gained nearly 2 percent for the month and sits 20 percent above March lows.

MSCI’s All Country World Index, which tracks stocks across 49 countries, is on track for a 3.5 percent gain this week - its best weekly performance since April.

The euro was headed for its best month since December as the European Union's 750 billion-euro coronavirus recovery fund fuelled optimism about the EU's political future. It hit a two-month high of US$1.1114 and last traded at US$1.1106.

The dollar sank against a basket of currencies, down 0.2 percent.

Gold was up 0.1 percent at US$1,720.27 an ounce.

Brent crude slipped 1.5 percent to US$34.76 a barrel. US crude fell 2.2 percent to US$32.99 a barrel.