Investing.com - The S&P 500 notched a weekly win Friday, shaking off fears of ramp-up in U.S.-trade tensions amid reports President Donald Trump was ready to hit China with a hefty round of tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 0.03%. The S&P 500 rose 0.03%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.05%.
For the week, the S&P ended up about 1.2%.
Trump instructed aides on Thursday to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion more in Chinese products, but the announcement has been delayed as the administration considers revisions based on concerns raised in public comments, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
This comes just days after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reached out to Chinese officials with an invitation to resumed trade talks.
Trump's willingness to press ahead with tariffs drummed up renewed fears of a full-blown trade war and raised questions about how committed the administration was to ending the trade dispute with China.
The rise in trade tensions wiped out early-session gains, which followed a surge in financials, mostly banks.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) closed higher, buoyed by a rise in U.S. bond yields on signs of underlying economic strength.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yields flirted with the important psychological 3% yield as traders cheered an upward revision to July's retail sales data, ignoring weaker retail sales for August.
Rising Treasury yields are seen as boon for banks, boosting their net interest margin, the difference between the interest income generated by banks and the amount of interest paid out to their lenders.
Wall Street's positive week was fraught with violent swings in tech. A wave of selling emerged across semiconductors, while Apple's product launch triggered a broad-based rally.
A rally in Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) also added steel to the tech performance after the software maker posted above-forecast fiscal third-quarter earnings and guidance.
Energy, meanwhile, played its part to firm the broader market, as oil prices sidestepped data pointing to a rise in domestic crude output.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for October delivery rose 0.58% to settle at $68.99 a barrel.
On the political front, traders assessed the potential damage to Trump after his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.
Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) and Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.
NiSource (NYSE:NI), Under Armour (NYSE:UA) and Coty (NYSE:COTY) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.