Stocks climb, putting S&P 500 on track for 4th weekly gain

Associated Press

Technology and health-care companies led U.S. stocks higher in early afternoon trading today, erasing some of the market's losses from a day earlier and placing the benchmark S&P 500 on track for its fourth straight weekly gain.

The broad rally came as investors weighed a mixed batch of corporate earnings reports.

Wayfair vaulted higher after reporting quarterly results that topped Wall Street's forecasts. Kraft Heinz plunged after disclosing a federal investigation into its procurement operations and slashing the value of its Oscar Mayer and Kraft brands.

Traders also continued to await developments in Washington, where negotiators from the U.S. and China held another round of talks aimed at resolving their costly trade dispute, which has contributed to a dimmer outlook for corporate earnings growth this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 141 points, or 0.6 percent, to 25,992 as of 1:14 p.m. Eastern Time. The S&P 500 index rose 0.5 percent, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.7 percent. Major European indexes finished higher.

"Investors are clearly optimistic that a compromise on trade talks will be coming sooner rather than later and those expectations appear to be reflected in the market rebound we see today," said Saira Malik, head of global equities at Nuveen.

"But the bigger picture is that with the market having such a nice rally year-to-date, we actually think we're in for a period of consolidation," she added. "Until you can see sustainable global economic growth, we think it's going to be tough for the market to really move a lot higher from here."