Stocks reversed higher as hopeful news on the trade war with China sparked late gains, while the retail sector led the market.
XThe Nasdaq erased a 0.7% loss to close 0.1% higher but a tad off its session highs. The composite found support at the 50-day moving average for the second time in three days.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% and the Dow Jones industrial average 0.4%. On the Dow, Verizon (VZ) made a new high as it cleared a 29-week base with a 54.87 buy point.
The Nasdaq lagged due to weakness in semiconductor, solar and some software groups. Shares of chip companies Applied Materials (AMAT) and Nvidia (NVDA) fell Friday after earnings reports, which hurt the sector. Nvidia slid 5% but is still forming a base, while Applied Materials touched a one-year low.
Indexes were lackluster until the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. and China negotiators hope to resolve their trade dispute by November. The news followed reports a day earlier that Chinese and U.S. officials will restart talks on tariffs.
It was another good day for retail, which accounted for three of the top four industry groups Friday: Department stores, auto dealers and office supply stores. Nordstrom's (JWN) strong earnings late Thursday seemed to spread through the sector. Nordstrom shares soared 13% to a 20-month high.
While no top-rung stocks broke out, there was an unusual surge of breakouts among real estate investment trusts.
Life Storage (LSI), Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH), Industrial Logistics Properties Trust (ILPT), EastGroup Properties (EGP), American Assets Trust (AAT) and Government Properties Income Trust (GOV) cleared buy points. But all traded at lower levels than normal.
Friday's worst industry group was automakers, after Tesla (TSLA) shares slid on a news report that raised questions about the emotional well-being of CEO Elon Musk.
The stock plunged 9% and an Aug. 7 breakout on the company's earnings has failed. Shares fell previously on news that the SEC is investigating whether Musk tweeted about a plan to take the company private as a way to hurt short sellers.
The movies industry group was one of the worst. Amazon.com (AMZN) is considering acquiring Landmark Theaters. The deal would put Amazon, which already provides streaming and original video content, in the brick-and-mortar theater arena. Amazon shares fell modestly.
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