The S&P 500 on Friday rose to a new high for this year as resurgent technology stocks closed out their best week in four months with solid gains.
Financial, healthcare and consumer stocks also helped lift the market.
The gains erased losses from last week, when the S&P 500 had its worst week of the year.
The benchmark index on Friday finished up 14 points, or 0.5 percent, at 2,822.48, up 12.6 percent for the year and down 4 percent from a record level set in September last year. That was also a surge of 2.9 percent from a close of 2,743.07 on March 8.
Technology stocks had their best week since November last year, while industrial stocks lagged the market.
Apple Inc ended the week with a 7.6 percent gain, its best week since August last year.
Despite the latest gains, global political turmoil, particularly over trade, still weighs on investors, Northern Trust Wealth Management chief investment officer Katie Nixon said.
“There’s so much importance placed on these geopolitical risks,” Nixon said. “They have to be resolved for the market to go forward.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday rose 138.93 points, or 0.5 percent, to 25,848.87, gaining 1.6 percent from 25,450.24 on March 8.
The NASDAQ Composite on Friday climbed 57.62 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,688.53, surging 3.8 percent from a close of 7,408.14 a week earlier.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies on Friday picked up 3.90 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,553.54, a 2.1 percent jump from 1,521.88 on March 8.
US stocks have had a strong showing this year, with all the major indices showing a gain of at least 10 percent.
Investors appear to be encouraged by reports that the US and China could be making progress on critical negotiations aimed at resolving a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
The Chinese National People’s Congress endorsed an investment law that aims to address complaints, particularly from the US, that China’s system is rigged against foreign companies.
The US has claimed that China has forced companies to share technology in order to do business in the country.
Traders are also confident that the US Federal Reserve will hold off on any action that could jeopardize economic growth.
The central bank, which in January signaled that it was hitting pause on its rate hikes amid a slowdown in global growth and the absence of inflationary pressures, is holding a meeting of policymakers next week.
Economists expect the Fed to keep rates on hold.
A surge in bond purchases on Friday indicated that investors do not foresee the Fed raising interest rates any time soon.
“There’s no chance of a rate hike,” Robert W. Baird & Co investment strategist Willie Delwiche said.
Chipmakers on Friday made up six of the top 10 gainers in the S&P 500.
Broadcom Inc led the technology sector rally after the chip provider reported a better-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter profit and told investors that it would return US$12 billion to stockholders this year through dividends and buybacks.
The stock jumped 8.2 percent.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan (陳福陽) said that he expects the chip business to hit a low in the second quarter and then notch growth during the second half of the year.
That assessment helped give other chipmakers a lift.
Intel Corp added 1.7 percent and Nvidia Corp gained 2.6 percent.
Healthcare, financial and consumer stocks also notched solid gains.
Biogen Inc added 2.6 percent, Morgan Stanley rose 1.5 percent and Amazon.com Inc gained 1.6 percent.
Investors also bid up shares in Ulta Beauty Inc after the cosmetics retailer’s latest quarterly results topped Wall Street’s forecasts. The stock jumped 8.3 percent.
Facebook Inc dropped 2.5 percent on news that two of the social media firm’s long-time executives are resigning following the company’s announcement that it would shift its emphasis to private messaging from public sharing.
Shares in Tesla Inc skidded 5 percent following the electric car maker’s unveiling of its Model Y, a mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) that starts at US$39,000.
The unveiling came as Tesla tries to expand into the mainstream and cash in on the red-hot market for SUVs.
Boeing Co shares recovered from an early slide to gain 1.5 percent after a report suggested that the aircraft manufacturer would roll out a software fix for its 737 MAX airplanes later this month.
The stock has been hammered this week after a 737 MAX flown by Ethiopian Airlines crashed on Sunday last week in Ethiopia, killing all 157 people on board.
A Boeing 737 MAX flown by Lion Air crashed in Indonesia in October last year, killing 189 people.
The US and other countries have since grounded the Boeing 737 MAX 8.
Shares in Boeing fell 10.3 percent this week. The stock is still up 14.9 percent for the year.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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