NEW YORK -- Stocks rose late in the day Friday as investors welcomed signs of progress in resolving the trade dispute between the U.S. and China. The Wall Street Journal reported that the countries hope to have a resolution by November.
Industrial, health care and basic materials companies made some of the biggest gains. The report came a day after China said it will send an envoy to Washington for the first talks between the countries since early June.
Marina Severinovsky, an investment strategist at Schroders, said stocks could jump if the U.S. and China make real progress toward a trade agreement. But stocks in emerging markets might make even bigger gains.
"The rally that could come, if there is a better outcome, would be in emerging markets," she said. "China has suffered pretty greatly ... the U.S. has held up pretty well."
The S&P 500 index rose 9.44 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,850.13. The Dow Jones industrial average added 110.59 points, or 0.4 percent, to 25,669.32. The Nasdaq composite edged up 9.81 points, or 0.1 percent, to 7,816.33. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gained 7.19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,692.95.
The late gains came in spite of weak results for several chipmakers. Electric-car-maker Tesla took its biggest drop in two years on reports of a wider government investigation into the company and concerns about Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk's health.
The Journal cited officials in both the U.S. and China as it said negotiators want to end the trade war before U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet at multilateral events in November.
Industrial companies made some of the biggest gains after agricultural-equipment-maker Deere posted stronger-than-expected sales. Its stock rose 2.4 percent to $140.59.
Construction-equipment-maker Caterpillar rose 2.3 percent to $139.34, and engine-maker Paccar added 2.3 percent to $67.16.
Chipmakers fell after two companies gave weaker forecasts for the third quarter. Nvidia said it no longer expects much revenue from products used in mining digital currencies, and its stock fell 4.9 percent to $244.82. Applied Materials slumped 7.7 percent to $43.77.
While big names like Netflix, Facebook and Amazon slipped, Apple led technology companies slightly higher overall. Apple stock rose 2 percent to $217.58.
Nordstrom jumped 13.2 percent to $59.18 after raising its annual profit and sales forecasts and posting better earnings and sales than analysts expected. It's been a mostly difficult week for department stores as Macy's and J.C. Penney both plunged after issuing their quarterly reports.
The S&P 500 finished this week with a solid gain of 0.6 percent, but it took a difficult path to get there. Stocks fell early this week because of worries about Turkey's currency crisis, and later investors fretted about China's economic growth.
Tesla was hit with a series of reports that concerned shareholders. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission started investigating Tesla last year to determine if it made false statements about production of its Model 3 sedan.
The SEC is also reportedly looking into CEO Elon Musk's comment on Twitter last week about possibly taking the company private.
Tesla stock rose from about $345 a share to about $380 after Musk's tweet last week, which said Tesla could go private for $420 a share. On Friday, it dropped 8.9 percent to $305.50.
Business on 08/18/2018