Wall Street rises on trade hopes; S&P, Nasdaq post best weeks in seven years

Wall Street rose on Friday as investors hoped for progress on trade in a critical US-China meeting over the weekend, and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their biggest weekly percentage gains in nearly seven years.

The Dow saw its largest weekly advance in two years. Investors were encouraged this week by comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and subsequent minutes from the central bank's latest meeting that suggested that the Fed will take a data-driven rather than ideological approach to future rate-hikes.

 

All three major US indexes recorded modest monthly percentage gains for November.

 

A Chinese official said "consensus is steadily increasing" in trade negotiations between the US and China as the G20 meeting got underway in Buenos Aires, sparking hopes there would be a positive resolution in the ongoing tariff dispute between the world's two largest economies.

 

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