/Dow jumps 400 points on trade hopes, heads for 8th straight weekly gain

Dow jumps 400 points on trade hopes, heads for 8th straight weekly gain

Stocks surged on Friday amid increasing hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal as equities posted another solid weekly gain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 443.86 points to 25,883.25 as J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs outperformed. The S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent to close at 2,775.60, led by the energy and industrials sectors. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.6 percent to end the day at 7,472.41.

Energy shares were boosted by higher oil prices. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 2.2 percent to $55.59 per barrel.

Bank stocks also rose broadly. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) climbed 2.25 percent. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America each advanced 2.54 percent or more.

The 30-stock Dow’s eight-week winning streak is its longest since the one ending Nov. 3, 2017. The Nasdaq also posted its eighth consecutive weekly gain. The S&P 500, meanwhile, closed its seventh weekly gain in eight. The indexes rose at least 2.4 percent each this week.

“The market is just getting rational again and simply rebounding from an irrational sell-off last fall,” said Craig Callahan, president at Icon Funds. He said the market was brought down late last year by fears of a Chinese economic hard landing, worries that a slowdown in China could spread around the world and concern over tighter Federal Reserve monetary policy.