Stocks ended modestly higher Friday as investors tried putting aside their worries about the U.S.-China trade war ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 95 points, or 0.37%, to 25,586, the S&P 500 climbed 0.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.11%.
For the week, the Dow fell 0.7% for its fifth consecutive weekly decline, the longest streak since 2011. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell a third straight week, the longest slide since December 2018
Leading the Dow's advance were Boeing (BA - Get Report) , JPMorgan Chase (JPM - Get Report) and Home Depot (HD - Get Report) .
China's ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Friday that Beijing is committed to striking a trade deal with the U.S. but it's also ready to respond with more counter-measures. He called the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei an "unusual" act of state power against a company.
He also said that China wants to continue working toward a trade agreement for President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize, Bloomberg reported, adding that there's no official discussions about a meeting between the two leaders.
Trump, meanwhile, told reporters on Thursday that he expected the U.S.-China trade war to end swiftly. He also said Huawei could be included as "some part" of a trade agreement with China.
"It's happening, it's happening fast and I think things probably are going to happen with China fast because I cannot imagine that they can be thrilled with thousands of companies leaving their shores for other places," Trump said during remarks at the White House, CNBC reported.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May saidshe will step down as head of the country's ruling Conservative Party, but will stay on in her role of Prime Minister for another few weeks until a new leader is chosen, throwing the much-delayed Brexit process deeper into chaos. Shares of Foot Locker (FL -Get Report) fell 16% to $44.40 after the athletic shoe and apparel retailer reportedweaker-than-expected first quarter earnings Friday, and trimmed its full-year profit guidance. Amazon (AMZN -Get Report) climbed after analysts at Piper Jaffray said shares of the online retailing giant will reach $3,000 between mid-2021 and mid-2022. Shares rose 0.43% to $1,823.HP (HPQ - Get Report) shares climbed 4.4% to $20.03 after the personal computing company beat Wall Street's second quarter earnings expectations and lifted its full-year profit guidance thanks to a steadying printing supplies division.
Shares of design software maker Autodesk (ADSK - Get Report) slumped 4.9% to $161.22 after the company reported lower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter revenue and profit, and provided weak guidance.
Shares of athletic clothing retailer Hibbett Sports (HIBB - Get Report) surged 20.9% to $23.96 after the company reported earnings that scored far higher than analysts' forecasts.
In economic news, orders for durable goods fell 2.1%, after rising 1.7% in March, the Commerce Department reported. Aircraft orders fell 25.1%, after gaining 7.8% in the previous month. Orders for cars and auto parts fell 3.4%, the biggest drop in nearly a year.
"U.S. durable goods dropped by 2.1% in April, and the consensus estimate was for a 2% fall," said David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK. "To make matters worse, the March number was revised considerably lower to 1.7% from 2.6%. This suggests that demand is cooling, and keep in mind yesterday's manufacturing and services PMI reports showed slowing growth. The recent economic updates might prompt Mr Trump to dial down the rhetoric with China."
In addition, JPMorgan economists slashed their outlook for second-quarter growth to just 1% from a previous 2.25%.
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