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* S&P 500, Dow set for first weekly rise in four sessions
* Trump to meet Chinese vice premier at 2:45 p.m. ET
* Apple hits record high on trade, Wedbush PT bump
* Fastenal jumps after Q3 profit beat
* Indexes up: Dow 1.53%, S&P 500 1.56%, Nasdaq 1.75%
(Updates to open)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Wall Street rose for the third straight
session on Friday, as investors expected top-level trade talks
between the United States and China to result in a partial trade
deal and delay planned U.S. tariff increases.
Shares of Apple Inc AAPL.O hit a record high and were the
biggest boost to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, while the technology
sector .SPLRCT was headed for its best day in five weeks.
President Donald Trump said the trade negotiations were
going well, and he would meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He later
in the day. The top-level discussions enter their second day on
Friday. Analysts said equity markets have grown hungry for some sort
of breakthrough in the latest round of negotiations.
"Over the last couple of months, we have seen firms taking a
hit from the uncertainty around trade and markets will be
looking for any clues to remove that uncertainty," said Scott
Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg,
Florida.
"It is still going to be a one step forward, two steps
backward tone with the talks, but there are hopes of a
de-escalation."
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes looked set to break a
three-week losing streak on rising optimism that the world's top
two economies could cool off their row before more U.S. tariffs
kick in next week.
Chipmakers with a sizeable exposure to China rose in early
trading. Intel Corp INTC.O was up 2.3%, while Nvidia Corp
NVDA.O and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O gained 2.7%
each.
Apple rose 1.7% as Wedbush raised its price target, citing
confidence in the company's new video streaming service.
At 10:21 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 405.65 points, or 1.53%, at 26,902.32, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 45.83 points, or 1.56%, at 2,983.96 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 139.27 points, or 1.75%, at 8,090.05.
The industrial sector .SPLRCI gained 2.2%, boosted by a
15.4% jump in shares of Fastenal Co FAST.O after the
industrial distributor beat quarterly profit expectations.
Oil stocks .SPNY rose 1.5%, as a report of an attack on an
Iranian oil tanker lifted oil prices. O/R
Focus now shifts to third-quarter earnings starting next
week as investors brace for the impact of the trade war on
Corporate America.
Analysts are expecting a 3.2% drop in S&P 500 earnings,
marking the first decline since 2016, according to IBES data
from Refinitiv.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 4.16-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 5.65-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 32 new highs and 22 new lows.