FYI: U.S. stocks rose Friday as major benchmarks aimed for their most robust weekly gains in a month with sentiment buoyed by encouraging headlines on U.S.-China trade negotiations and Chinese assurances of forthcoming economic stimulus.
Stocks were also expected to be affected by Friday’s quadruple witching, the simultaneous expiration of stock-index futures and stock-index options, as well as individual stock futures and options.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 137 points, or 0.8%, to 25847. The S&P 500 added 0.50% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced .76%.
All three indexes closed at their highest levels of the year.
Stocks managed to grind higher throughout the past few days, even as data pointed to further loss of momentum across the global economy. A Federal Reserve report Friday showed U.S. industrial production rose less than expected and manufacturing production slid for a second straight month in February. That followed downbeat reports on industrial output in China, as well as data showing inflation remained subdued across the eurozone.
The data helped fuel a rally in government bonds, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note to 2.598% from 2.628% Thursday. Yields fall as bond prices rise.
Technology stocks helped drive major indexes higher throughout the week, extending a recent rally that has made the sector the best-performing group in the S&P 500 for the year.
Apple shares rose 1.5%, extending gains after a Morgan Stanley analyst said iPhone sales in China appeared to be stabilizing. Broadcom jumped 9%, buoyed by its better-than-expected earnings report released late Thursday.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.7%, boosted by gains in the autos and technology sectors.
The British pound climbed 0.4% against the U.S. dollar, extending weekly gains. The currency rallied after U.K. lawmakers voted to rule out leaving the European Union without a withdrawal deal and in favor of extending the current Brexit deadline of March 29. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.6%.
That followed upbeat trading in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average climbed 0.8% after the Bank of Japan surprised few investors by leaving interest rates unchanged while maintaining purchases of Japanese government bonds.
Chinese stocks also advanced, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng benchmark rising 0.6% after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the government would consider cutting interest rates and banks’ reserve requirement ratio to buoy the economy.
Eight of the eleven S&P 500 Sectors led by Technology were in positive territory, Real Estate and the three other sectors finished in the red.
Regards
Ted
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-rise-more-than-100-points-as-stock-market-aims-for-best-weekly-run-in-a-month-2019-03-15/printWSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-stay-on-track-for-weekly-rise-11552641183Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-14/asian-stocks-set-for-mixed-start-dollar-climbs-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/nasdaq-leads-big-week-stock-market-how-long-bull-run/Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/wall-street-buoyed-by-u-s-china-trade-optimism-idUSKCN1QW1HYCNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/stock-market-wall-street-focus-on-us-china-trade-deal-brexit.htmlU.K.:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-climbs-as-global-equities-rise-investors-digest-britains-brexit-extension-request-2019-03-15/printEurope:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-markets-track-global-stocks-higher-energy-companies-offer-support-2019-03-15/printAsia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-rise-led-japans-nikkei-2019-03-14/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/bonds-and-fixed-income-investors-look-to-economic-data.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/forex-market-brexit-vote-bank-of-japan-decision-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/oil-market-opec-cuts-economic-slowdown-in-focus.htmlGold
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/15/gold-market-brexit-dollar-moves-in-focus.htmlWSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/usMajor ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitorSPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-trackerSPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectorsCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx 
Comments
⇒ This post had only 6 views and no comments. It has been artificially "bumped" into the COMMENTS + CATEGORY by the poster himself, without legitimate qualifying comments.
He has deliberately done this with the phony ". " post so as to force it to your attention. He is well aware that this is in violation of MFO standard practice, but he believes himself to be exempt from such things, because he is the almighty TED.
Some people cheat to get unqualified offspring into major universities, others cheat on small things like MFO postings. It's all done by the same sort of people, though.