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* U.S., China getting close to trade deal-White House
adviser
* Healthcare sector posts biggest one-day gain since Jan
* Applied Materials jumps on strong forecast
* S&P 500 mints sixth straight week of gains
* Indexes up: Dow 0.8%, S&P 0.77%, Nasdaq 0.73%
(Updates to close of U.S. market)
By Lewis Krauskopf
Nov 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main stock indexes closed
at record levels on Friday, fueled by fresh optimism over a
potential calming of U.S.-China trade tensions and by big gains
in shares of healthcare companies.
The benchmark S&P 500 tallied its sixth straight week of
gains, its longest such weekly streak in about two years, while
the Dow breached 28,000 for the first time.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late on
Thursday that the United States and China are getting close to a
trade agreement, citing what he called very constructive talks
with Beijing.
“Today is definitely about optimism surrounding the trade
tensions,” said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private
wealth at Glenmede in Philadelphia.
The stock market has climbed recently to record highs,
driven by Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, third-quarter
earnings topping low expectations and signs that economic growth
may be bottoming, while uncertainty over U.S.-China trade
relations remains a wild card.
"It's definitely been a big source of volatility over a
fairly long period of time for the markets and stocks in
general," Pride said. "To see some sort of resolution of it
would probably be a lift to investors and to equity holders
because it takes away a big piece of uncertainty in many
investors', and even corporate executives', minds.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 222.93 points,
or 0.8%, to 28,004.89, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 23.83 points,
or 0.77%, to 3,120.46 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
61.81 points, or 0.73%, to 8,540.83.
Ten of 11 S&P 500 sectors ended positive. Healthcare
.SPXHC led the way, gaining 2.2% for its biggest one-day
percentage rise since January, with UnitedHealth Group UNH.N
shares surging 5.3% and Pfizer PFE.N rising 2.0%.
The gains came as President Donald Trump made an
announcement on healthcare price transparency. Regulatory and
election risks have contributed to the healthcare sector's
underperformance in 2019, said Walter Todd, chief investment
officer at Greenwood Capital in South Carolina, noting that
perhaps Friday's gains were "a catch-up trade."
Shares of Applied Materials AMAT.O soared 9.0% after the
chip gear maker forecast first-quarter revenue and profit above
Wall Street estimates. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX gained 0.9%
and hit a record high. Enthusiasm for the group was tempered by
a 2.7% decline in Nvidia NVDA.O shares following the
chipmaker's report. Data on Friday showed U.S. retail sales rebounded in
October, but consumers cut back on purchases of big-ticket
household items and clothing, which could temper expectations
for a strong holiday shopping season. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.84-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.50-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 52 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 121 new highs and 108 new lows.
About 6.5 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges,
below the 6.9 billion-share daily average over the last 20
sessions.