Wall Street capped a day of volatile trading with a late-afternoon buying spree that sent US stock indices to a mostly higher finish on Friday.
Despite the eleventh-hour rally, the benchmark S&P 500 index ended with its second weekly loss in four weeks.
The market got a brief boost after US President Donald Trump expressed optimism that the US and China will reach a deal to resolve their costly trade dispute.
The remarks came as representatives of both countries have resumed talks.
Large retailers and media and communications companies were the laggards.
“The market and market participants are more unsettled now than they have been in years,” Globalt Investments senior portfolio manager Tom Martin said. “We’re that much further on in the cycle and you have these tariffs and trade wars that are really still in the very early stages.”
The S&P 500 index on Friday rose 6.07 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,736.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 123.95 points, or 0.5 percent, to 25,413.22. The NASDAQ composite slid 11.16 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,247.87. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies picked up 3.41 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,527.53.
The S&P 500, which finished higher for the second straight day, ended the week with a loss of 1.6 percent, the Dow Jones fell 2.2 percent and the NASDAQ composite fell 2.15 percent.
Like much of this week, the market spent much of Friday veering between bouts of listless trading and modest swings.
“Investors are really trying to figure out how they want to be positioned based on the incoming information,” Martin said. “It’s not surprising to me that at this time of year, given what we’ve seen, that we’re getting the intraday moves we’re getting.”
One of the day’s market swings came as traders reacted to Trump’s remarks on trade.
At the White House, speaking about the lingering trade dispute, the US president said he hoped the US could make a deal with China.
“I think a deal will be made,” Trump said. “We’ll find out very soon.”
Stocks snapped higher after the remarks were reported, with the Dow briefly jumping as much as 220 points, before pulling back to about where they were beforehand.
Soybean futures spiked after Trump’s comments. Soybean prices have fallen sharply since this spring as the trade dispute with China led to a steep drop in China’s purchases of US soybeans.
Soybean futures jumped from US$8.83 to US$8.92 a bushel following the comments.
They had traded as high as US$10.78 a bushel in early March.
The Trump administration has imposed a 10 percent tariff on US$200 billion of Chinese goods over complaints that Beijing steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology as the price of market access.
That tariff is set to rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1. Another US$50 billion of Chinese goods already is subject to 25 percent duties.
Beijing has responded with duties on US$110 billion of US goods.
Washington and Beijing resumed talks over their spiraling trade dispute this week ahead of a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Trump, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
Healthcare stocks were among the biggest gainers on Friday. Universal Health Services Inc gained 3.9 percent to US$133.
Troubled California power provider Pacific Gas & Electric Co surged 37.5 percent to US$24.40 after the US president of the utility’s state regulator said it was essential for a power company to have the financial strength to operate safely.
The remark late Thursday by California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker appeared to reassure investors who are concerned that the company might face a torrent of costs related to the devastating wildfire in Northern California.
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