U.S. stocks rose Friday afternoon, trading near session highs, as the major benchmarks aim for their most robust weekly gains in a month. Sentiment was buoyed by encouraging headlines on U.S.-China trade negotiations and Chinese assurances of forthcoming economic stimulus.
Stocks were also expected to be affected by Friday’s quadruple witching, the simultaneous expiration of stock-index futures and stock-index options, as well as individual stock futures and options.
See: Why March’s ‘quadruple witching’ puts the stock market in danger of a late-month swoon
How did major indexes fare?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.74% rose 208 points, or 0.8%, at 25,857, while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.72% climbed 19 points, or 0.5%, at 2,824. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.05% advanced 78 points to 7,708, a gain of 1%.
For the week, the Dow is set for a weekly gain of 1.8%, while the S&P 500 is set to rise 3.1%, while the Nasdaq is on pace to rise 4.1% over the past five trading days. The gains would mark the biggest weekly gain since the period ended Feb. 15, according to FactSet data.
What are benchmarks doing?
Stocks rose on Friday as investors digested comments from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Beijing’s No. 2 leader after President Xi Jinping, who expressed optimism that a trade deal between China and the U.S. can be achieved that suits both parties.
Li also addressed weakness in the world’s second-largest economy and pledged to maintain strong stimulus measures, like lowering interest rates, cutting bank reserve ratios, and cutting taxes for consumers and businesses, boosting investor confidence that a stabilizing Chinese economy could stem a recent trend of slowing global growth.
Read: Don’t look now, but global economic data is starting to surprise investors in a good way
Meanwhile, he denied accusations that the country used its technology to spy on other countries, attempting to lay to rest one of the key issues that stand between the U.S. and China in a trade agreement.
“This is not how China behaves. We did not do that and will not do that in the future,” Li said in translated remarks at the conclusion of the National People’s Congress on Thursday.
He added that the parties may be several weeks away from a tariff agreement, but described China as “very responsible and reasonable.” Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking to reporters after his Senate testimony in front of a finance committee said no date had been set for a meeting between Xi and Trump to complete a deal, adding that “there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Bloomberg News a day ago said a meeting that had tentatively been penciled in for the end of March would be pushed back to April.
Trade talks between the two of the globe’s largest economies has been chief among concerns for investors because an heated war between the two have the potential to hurt economies world-wide.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, as expected, while also maintaining purchases of Japanese government bonds.
Which data are in focus?
Manufacturing activity in New York state expanded at a slower rate than expected, The New York Fed’s Empire State index fell to a reading of 3.7 in March from 8.8 in the prior month, a near two-year low. Economists had expected a reading of 10, according to a survey by Econoday.
U.S. industrial production rose by 0.1% in February, below the 0.4% increase expected by economists, according to a MarketWatch poll. January’s figure, however, was revised up to show a 0.4% drop, rather than a 0.6% decline as previously estimated.
The report also showed capacity utilization falling slightly to 78.2% in February, from 78.3% in January.
Job openings in the U.S. rose to 7.58 million in January, according to the Labor Department, the third-highest level on record.
Consumer sentiment rose in March, to 97.8 from 93.8 in February, according to a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. The reading was above the 95 level expected by economists polled by MarketWatch.
What are strategists saying?
“The move higher this morning is being driven by [China premier Li Keqiang’s] comments” that the Chinese government was committed to taking stimulus measures needed to prop up the world’s second largest economy, Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Asset Management, told MarketWatch.
Read: Why some investors say tech stocks are becoming less risky
Counterpoint: Longtime market bull sees unsettling parallel between today and March 2000
“You’re seeing smaller cap companies do well, which indicates a risk-on mood on Wall Street,” he added, pointing to strong consumer confidence data as reason to believe that the U.S. economy’s expansion has more room to run.
Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades said “this risk-on sentiment was mainly built on ground of a widespread optimism following President Trump’s recent statement about a ‘very responsible and reasonable China’. The U.S. President also added he will have news on a China trade deal in the next 3-4 weeks and that could lead to an extension of this year’s rally on stocks.”
“Its quadruple options expiration day, which is likely to cause a swelling of volume and volatility,” wrote Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.
Which stocks are in focus?
Shares of Facebook Inc. FB, -2.49% were under pressure after the social media firm said that two senior executives were leaving the company. The stock was down 2.5%. Shares fell 1.9% Thursday, on news that the a grand jury is undertaking a criminal investigation into the company’s data sharing practices.
Amazon Inc. AMZN, +1.16% stock rose 0.5% early Friday, after KeyBanc Capital raised its rating on the stock to overweight.
Shares of Boeing Inc. rallied 2.9% Friday afternoon, after reports that it would push out a software update that could mitigate issues that led to the grounding of its 737 8 Max planes in the U.S. and abroad. The stock was down more than 2% at its session low Friday morning.
Bioscrip Inc. BIOS, -31.23% stock fell 30%, after the company announced a deal to merge with privately held Option Care Enterprises Inc.
Shares of Broadcom Inc. rose 10.7% after the chip maker reported fiscal first-quarter earnings Thursday evening that surpassed expectations.
Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. ULTA, +8.88% rallied 8.1% after the beauty-products retailer reported fiscal fourth quarter results Thursday evening that surpassed expectations, while showing an increase in online sales.
Newell Brands Inc. NWL, -0.71% shares were in focus after chief executive officer Michael Polk said Thursday evening that he would retire from the company at the end of the second quarter. The stock fell .50.9% Friday.
Shares of Oracle Corp. ORCL, +0.07% fell 0.7%, following a Thursday-evening report that showed the enterprise-software company beating earnings estimates for the fiscal third quarter that surpassed expectations and an outlook that matched forecasts
How did the major benchmarks fare yesterday?
On Thursday, the Dow rose 7.05 points to 25,709.94, a gain of less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 index slipped 2.44 points to 2,808.48, finishing little changed, and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 12.50 points, or 0.2%, to 7,630.91.
How are markets trading elsewhere?
In Asia, stocks closed higher Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, +0.77% China’s Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +1.04% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.56% all rising more that 0.5%
European stocks were also on the rise, with the Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.69% adding 0.6%.
In commodities markets, crude oil prices CLJ9, -0.41% were ticking higher, while the price of gold GCJ9, +0.50% rose, and the U.S. dollar DXY, -0.14% edged lower against its peers.
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