Stocks rose on Friday as another round of trade talks between the U.S. and China wrapped up with investors increasingly more hopeful a deal will be struck.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 181.18 points to 26,031.81 as Intel outperformed. The 30-stock index also broke above 26,000 for the first time since early November and posted its ninth consecutive weekly gain, its longest streak since May 1995. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9 percent to 7,527.54 as shares of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet all closed higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also notched its ninth straight weekly gain, its longest streak since May 2009.
The small-caps Russell 2000 gained 0.9 percent to close at 1,590.06 and recorded its longest weekly winning streak since 1996.The S&P 500 climbed 0.6 percent to 2,792.67, led by gains in the tech sector.
Stocks have been off to a roaring start to the year. The major indexes are all up at least 11 percent in 2019 as the Federal Reserve indicates it will be patient in raising rates. Hopes the U.S. and China end their trade skirmish has also boosted equities. The gains also follow a massive drop in stocks to end 2018.
"It's pretty extraordinary the amount of gain that we've had," said Thomas Thornton, founder and president of Hedge Fund Telemetry. But "many of my indicators are showing very overbought conditions now with more and more upside exhaustion signals."
"I really wish I could pick a sector that had defensive qualities right now, but everything has gone up so dramatically that when the pullback comes, it will probably be widespread," Thornton said.