S&P, Nasdaq post best weeks in seven years

NEW YORK — Wall Street rose on Friday as investors hoped for progress on trade in a critical USChina meeting over the weekend, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their biggest weekly percentage gains in nearly seven years.

The Dow saw its largest weekly advance in two years. Investors were encouraged this week by comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and subsequent minutes from the central bank’s latest meeting that suggested that the Fed will take a data-driven rather than ideological approach to future rate-hikes.

All three major US indexes recorded modest monthly percentage gains for November.

A Chinese official said “consensus is steadily increasing” in trade negotiations between the US and China as the G20 meeting got underway in Buenos Aires, sparking hopes there would be a positive resolution in the ongoing tariff dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

“The three key issues that people are really focusing on are how dovish is the Fed going to be going forward, how are trade relations with China going to play out, and what’s going on in the oil markets,” said Charlie Ripley, senior market strategist for Allianz Investment Management.

“But as we get better news, that’s helped lift the markets,” Mr. Ripley added. “That’s why we’re seeing a week like this week.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 199.62 points or 0.79% to 25,538.46; the S&P 500 gained 22.41 points or 0.82% to 2,760.16; and the Nasdaq Composite added 57.45 points or 0.79% to 7,330.54.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, all but energy ended the session in positive territory.

Energy stocks fell 0.2% as crude prices extended their slide.

But falling world oil prices boosted airlines stocks. The Dow Jones Airlines index rose 2.8%.

Shares of Marriott International, Inc. sank 5.6% after hotel operator said hackers stole about 500 million records from its Starwood Hotels reservation system.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1.17 to 1; on Nasdaq, a 1.24-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and six new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 49 new highs and 90 new lows. Volume on US exchanges was 8.39 billion shares, compared to the 7.63 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. —