Stocks climb as investors hope for Trump-Xi trade progress

NEW YORK—Stocks climbed again Friday as President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China prepared to meet and discuss trade, a meeting investors hope will start to resolve the two nations’ trade dispute.

The U.S. market jumped this week after falling to a six-month low the week before. The rally helped the market finish with a modest gain in November, but the S&P 500 is still 5.8 percent away from the all-time high it set in late September. Among other issues, that drop reflects investors’ pessimism that the U.S. and China will resolve their differences without causing damage to the global economy. The two sides have been sparring for months over issues including China’s technology policy.

Technology and health care companies made the largest gains Friday, but energy companies slipped as U.S. crude oil fell again, briefly trading under $50 a barrel. The price of crude oil dropped 22 percent in November, its worst month in a decade, hurt by concerns that supplies are too ample as global economic growth slows.

The S&P 500 index gained 22.41 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,760.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 199.62 points, or 0.8 percent, to 25,538.46. The Nasdaq composite jumped 57.45 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,330.54. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 7.88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,533.27.

The U.S. has announced tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports this year, with the tax rate on many products set to rise Jan. 1, while China put new taxes on $110 billion in U.S. goods. Investors are concerned that the lingering dispute will keep businesses from spending money. That might not change even if the nations announce a cease-fire on new tariffs or the outlines of a deal this weekend.

Among technology companies, Intel gained 3.4 percent to $49.31 and Nvidia climbed 3.9 percent to $163.43. Microsoft rose 0.6 percent to $110.89. Apple lost 0.5 percent to $178.58, which meant Microsoft surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. Microsoft’s current market value is $851.2 billion to $847.4 billion for Apple. Amazon isn’t far behind, at

$826.4 billion.

Microsoft was the world’s most valuable publicly traded company during the dot-com boom, but hadn’t held the title since 2000. Apple became No. 1 earlier this decade, when it surpassed Exxon Mobil.

Bond prices rose further. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.99 percent, its lowest since mid-September, from 3.03 percent.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell more than 3 percent in morning trading and briefly slipped below $50 a barrel. It closed down 1 percent at $50.93 a barrel in New York. Brent crude lost 1.3 percent to $58.71 a barrel in London.

Oil prices have been falling since early October as supplies have built up, partly because the U.S. agreed to hold off on sanctions for countries that import oil from Iran. Investors are also worried that a slowdown in global economic growth will reduce demand for fuels.

Wholesale gasoline lost 0.9 percent to $1.44 a gallon. Heating oil was little changed at $1.85 a gallon. Natural gas fell 0.7 percent to $4.61 per 1,000 cubic feet.