US stocks rallies over positive trade talks

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, as technology shares were boosted by signs of progress in the ongoing trade talks between the United States and China. Top trade negotiators from the two countries met to wrap up a week of talks on some of the thorniest issues in their trade war, with President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He set to meet at the Oval Office later in the day. Stocks have largely risen this week on hopes of a trade deal, but a batch of weak data pointing to growing headwinds to the U.S. economy put the brakes on the S&P 500's three-day rally on Thursday.

"There seems to be quite a bit of optimism around trade discussions," said Shawn Cruz, manager of the trading strategy at TD Ameritrade in Jersey City, New Jersey. "What I'm expecting them to say is that the talks are proceeding and that they're comfortable postponing the tariff increase on March 1."

Tech stocks jumped 1.12 per cent, leading gains among the 11 major S&P sectors and putting the benchmark index on track for its four weeks of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were on course to post nine straight weeks of gains.

Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and chipmakers led the rally in the tech sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index gained 1.08 per cent, led by Intel Corp's 2.7 per cent rise after Morgan Stanley lifted its rating to "overweight". At 12:41 p.m. ET the Dow was up 168.11 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 26,018.74. The S&P 500 was up 15.30 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 2,790.18 and the Nasdaq was up 54.64 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 7,514.34.

Kraft Heinz Co tumbled 27.4 per cent, weighing the most on the S&P along with a 1.7 per cent fall in Class B shares of the company's controlling stakeholder, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The packaged food company posted a quarterly loss, disclosed an SEC probe and wrote down the value of its iconic Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands.

The S&P consumer staples sector slipped 0.51 per cent, followed by a 0.19 per cent drop in financials. Kraft Heinz rivals General Mills, Conagra Brands and Kellogg Co fell about 3 per cent each.

Trade-exposed industrials sector climbed 0.44 per cent, with bellwether Boeing Co up 1.4 per cent. Newmont Mining Corp rose 4.4 per cent after Canada's Barrick Gold Corp confirmed that it was considering an all-stock bid for the company.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.22-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded 59 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 100 new highs and 20 new lows.