(CNBC) Stocks rose on Friday as investors cheered strong quarterly earnings from Intel along with apparent progress on the U.S.-China trade front.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to 3,022.53 and briefly traded above its record closing high. The broad index also came within inches of its intraday all-time high. The tech sector closed at a record high, rising more than 1% on Friday.
“If higher rates in 2018 and the worsening of the Trade War caused weaker economic data in 2019, so too should much lower rates and softening of rhetoric help the economy and EPS,” Tony Dwyer, chief market strategist at Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a note.
