The three major indexes notched solid weekly gains amid optimism about a possible initial trade deal between the United States and China.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday up 6 points, or 0.02%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.25%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.5%.
Despite the muted day of trading, the S&P 500 marked its fifth straight week of gains, rising 0.9%. The Dow notched a third week of gains, up 1.2%, and the Nasdaq was up 1.1%.
The winning streaks come at the end of a week of conflicting messages on the progress made on a phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China.
On Thursday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said the world’s two largest economies agreed to roll back existing tariffs imposed on goods imported from each country in order to reach an initial agreement.
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said later Thursday the Trump administration is “very optimistic” a deal will soon be reached.
But President Trump on Friday suggested a cancellation of the duties was out of the question.
“They’d like to have a rollback. I haven’t agreed to anything,” he told reporters before departing the White House for Atlanta. “China would like to get somewhat of a rollback, not a complete rollback, because they know I won’t do it.”
The U.S. has imposed tariffs on $360 billion worth of Chinese goods, and another round of 15% levies is set to take effect Dec. 15.
Trump announced last month the U.S. and China had reached a phase one deal, but the details are still being worked out. As a result of the preliminary agreement, the president called off a planned tariff increase that was scheduled for Oct. 15. Trump said China also agreed to purchase billions of dollars worth of American farm products.
