Friday's early afternoon trade: trade hopes boost chips, industrials stocks to session highs

Technology and industrial stocks powered Wall Street's rise on Friday, setting the three main indexes on track for their fourth week of gains, amid growing optimism that the United States and China would resolve their bitter trade dispute.
US stocks steadily extended gains after a Bloomberg report said China had offered to go on a six-year buying spree to ramp up US imports in order to reconfigure the relation between the two countries. This follows another report on Thursday that said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. A Treasury spokesman denied Mnuchin had made any such recommendation.
Trade-sensitive industrials stocks rose 2.26 percent, the most among S&P sectors, while the Philadelphia SE semiconductor index climbed 2.87 percent. A 1.68 percent rise in technology sector was the biggest boost to S&P 500.
All of the 11 major S&P indexes and the 30 Dow members were higher.
"There seems to be more goodwill on both sides now. If there is any hint of concessions on tariffs or progress in talks, those gestures alone will send the stock market sky-rocketing," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Schlumberger jumped 7.87 percent after the world's largest oilfield services provider's quarterly revenue beat estimates. The energy sector, which is the best performing S&P sector so far in 2019, rose 1.66 percent, also boosted by higher oil prices.
At 12:27 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 365.86 points, or 1.50 percent, at 24,735.96, the S&P 500 was up 39.16 points, or 1.49 percent, at 2,675.12 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 98.29 points, or 1.39 percent, at 7,182.76.
Adding to the upbeat mood, latest data showed US manufacturing output increased by the most in 10 months in December, which could allay fears of a sharp slowdown in factory activity.
One disappointment was Netflix Inc, which fell 1.61 percent as investors looked past its record subscriber numbers and instead focused on its lower-than-expected revenue forecast for the first quarter.