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Updated at 11:14 am EST

U.S. stocks fought-off an extended January slump Friday, with market volatility gauges holding at nearly fifteen months highs, as investors look to close out another wild week of trading — and the worst January in Wall Street history — that has pulled the broadest measure of domestic stocks deeper into correction territory.

The Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance on rates and inflation from earlier this week, coupled with a disappointing earnings season and suggestions of slowing economic growth have pulled global stocks lower this week, while added market volatility — much of it linked to equity options trading — has whipsawed the Dow into triple-digit intra-day swings for much of the past week.

The prospect of faster rate hikes — and Bank of America is forecasting seven hikes this year — lifted the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of global currency peers, to the highest levels since July of 2020.

Growth concerns are also being played out in the bond market, where the gap between 2-year and 10-year note yields has narrowed to just 62.2 basis points, setting up the prospect of a so-called curve inversion — where 2-year note yields rise past 10-year yields — that suggests a near-term recession.

Stronger-than-expected earnings from tech giant Apple  (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report could provide some early respite for the markets heading into the start of trading, but investors will first had to pass through the key reading of December inflation at 8:30 am eastern time as well as December quarter updates from Chevron  (CVX) – Get Chevron Corporation Report and Caterpillar  (CAT) – Get Caterpillar Inc. Report.

The Fed’s preferred inflation reading, the core PCE Price index, came in largely as expected in December, even as one measure of price pressures rose to the fastest rate since 1982.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was marked 15 points lower in the opening hours of trading while the S&P 500 gained 27 points to trim the broadest benchmark of U.S. stocks to a year-to-date decline of 8.65%, still one of the worst January performances on record. 

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Apple gave the Nasdaq Composite a boost, with the tech-focused benchmark rising 175 points in late-morning trading, a move that would take its year-to-date decline to 14%.

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Apple shares, in fact, are up more than 2.6% in pre-market trading as record holiday sales, built off a surge in iPhone demand, offset concerns for global supply chain disruptions and chip shortages and powered the tech giant into a crushing first quarter earnings tally.

Tesla  (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report, however, extended its recent slump, falling 3.7% to slide under the $800 mark. The clean-energy carmaker has lost more than $32 billion in market value, or 33%, since hitting an all-time high in early November.

On the downside, Robinhood  (HOOD) – Get Robinhood Markets, Inc. Class A Report shares plunged  4.8% after the online trading platform posted a steeper-than-expected fourth quarter loss and said near-term revenues would come in sharply lower than Street forecasts.

Visa  (V) – Get Visa Inc. Class A Report shares were up 5.5% after the world’s biggest credit card posted better-than-expected first quarter earnings thanks to a surge in post-pandemic spending and the full return of international travel.

U.S. Steel  (X) – Get United States Steel Corporation Report shares, too, were notably higher, rising 5.6% after posting stronger-than-expected fourth quarter sales and boosting its buyback plan by $500 million.

Caterpillar  (CAT) – Get Caterpillar Inc. Report, however, fell 4% even as it published stronger-than-expected fourth quarter earnings amid an ongoing rebound in global construction equipment sales and surging commodity prices.