US STOCKS-Wall Street finishes up as stimulus talks continue

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* Mnuchin floats new stimulus proposal
* Xilinx surges on report of buyout offer by AMD

(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
Oct 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday and
registered gains for the week as optimism over more federal
fiscal aid grew.
Talks were expected to continue on a COVID-19 stimulus
package, even though U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed on Friday to reach
agreement.
Mnuchin floated a new proposal Friday afternoon, but an aide
for Pelosi said it lacked a broad plan to contain the pandemic.
Recent trading on Wall Street has been dictated by headlines
on fiscal aid, with the three main indexes tumbling on Tuesday
after U.S. President Donald Trump called off negotiations. He
has since indicated he was willing to resume discussions.
"The market's reacting well to Trump's sudden turnaround in
terms of a support package and this new package that he proposed
that's much larger than previously," said Tim Ghriskey, chief
investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York, New
York.
"It probably shows some desperation on his part. A lot of
this has been politics, but a lot of people believe the economy
really needs some economic support here, so that's a good
thing."
Technology shares .SPLRCT rose, and the sector gave the
S&P 500 its biggest boost.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
161.59 points, or 0.57%, to 28,587.1, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
30.29 points, or 0.88%, to 3,477.12 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 158.96 points, or 1.39%, to 11,579.94.
Energy stocks .SPNY fell following recent gains.
Strategists say investors have also begun to digest the
possibility of Democratic candidate Joe Biden winning the Nov. 3
presidential election after a fractious debate last month led to
a jump in his lead over Trump in several national polls.
Xilinx Inc XLNX.O surged after a report said Advanced
Micro Devices Inc AMD.O was in talks to buy the chipmaker in a
deal valued at more than $30 billion. General Electric Co GE.N jumped as a report said Goldman
Sachs reinstated coverage on the U.S. industrial conglomerate
with a "buy" rating, saying the company will emerge stronger
from the COVID-19 pandemic.