Stocks rise with tech-related shares, notch weekly gains; dollar up

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Most stock indexes climbed on Friday, with Wall Street buoyed by technology-related shares, while the dollar had its first weekly rise in over a month as investors searched for signs that the U.S.-China trade war may be easing.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet rose 1.7% after it beat profit expectations and reaffirmed AI spending targets, while the S&P 500 technology, consumer discretionary and communication services sectors gained more than 1% each.

But investors have been listening closely to corporate calls this earnings season, particularly for lowered or pulled projections, amid uncertainty surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff offensive.

Trump said in an interview published on Friday that tariff negotiations were under way with China, but Beijing denied any talks were taking place, the latest in a series of conflicting signals over progress to de-escalate a trade war threatening to sap global growth.

Trump told Time magazine that talks were taking place and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him.

Tit-for-tat tariffs that began with Trump's announcement of hefty import levies on April 2 had threatened to stall trade between the world's two biggest economies and sparked fears of a slowdown in global growth.

"This week you've seen kind of relief that maybe some of the worst case of the Trump tariff actions won't come true," said Chip Rewey, CIO of Rewey Asset Management, a registered investment adviser based in New Jersey.

"While we've recovered from some of the lows, we haven't pushed back to highs. And I think somewhere in that range is where we'll stay for a while."

The three major U.S. stock indexes registered sharp gains for the week, while European shares notched their second straight weekly gain.

The rebound in stocks will be tested next week when another wave of corporate results, led by Apple and Microsoft, are released.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.10 points, or 0.05%, to 40,113.50, the S&P 500 rose 40.44 points, or 0.74%, to 5,525.21 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 216.90 points, or 1.26%, to 17,382.94.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 4.88 points, or 0.60%, to 824.74. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 0.35%.

In Japan, the Nikkei was up 1.8% on Friday and has regained all its losses since Trump's announcement of the highest U.S. tariffs in 100 years - levies he largely suspended, except for China and a baseline tariff of 10%.

After taking a beating in recent weeks due to tariff news and a flight from U.S. assets, the dollar recovered slightly against the euro and yen.

The dollar rose 0.07% against a basket of currencies and was set for a modest weekly gain, its first since mid-March.

The dollar was up 0.67% against the yen at 143.555, while the euro fell 0.11% to $1.1377.

Gold prices, which have soared this year as investors sought safe-haven assets, decoupled from the dollar and were down 1.7% at $3,292.99 an ounce on Friday.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 3.7 basis points to 4.268%, from 4.305% late on Thursday. U.S. Treasury yields declined following recent hopes of an easing in the U.S.-China trade war and as investors weighed the possibility that the Federal Reserve could pivot toward lower interest rates as economic activity slows.

Market fears lingered that Trump's erratic policymaking may push foreign investors to ditch Treasuries, a key concern in recent weeks, but analysts said there was still no clear evidence of that.

Oil prices edged higher but posted a weekly decline. Brent crude futures settled 32 cents higher at $66.87 a barrel, taking losses to 1.6% over the week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 23 cents to $63.02 a barrel, marking a weekly decline of 2.6%.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Additional reporting by Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Joe Bavier, Lisa Shumaker and Rod Nickel)