Friday's early afternoon trade: main indexes set to record biggest weekly gain

Wall Street's main indexes were set on Friday to post their biggest weekly gain in nearly a month, as investors were optimistic about the ongoing trade talks to resolve a bruising tariff dispute between the United States and China.
President Donald Trump said talks with China "are going extremely well", and the US is closer than ever to having a "real" trade deal with Beijing. Discussions between the world's largest economies will continue next week in Washington.
"Today's sentiment is mainly based on trade progress and the fact that we will see Chinese representatives in D.C., it seems like the talks are going to deliver results sooner-than-expected," said Edward Moya, market analyst at futures brokerage Oanda in New York.
Hopes of a trade deal ahead of a March 1 deadline has helped the trade-sensitive industrials gain nearly 17 percent so far this year, making it the best performing S&P sector.
The group rose 1.13 percent boosted by bellwethers Boeing Co and Caterpillar Inc. The markets shrugged off Trump declaring a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the US-Mexico border without congressional approval, an action Democrats vowed to challenge as a violation of the US Constitution.
Despite the threat of a national emergency, all 11 major S&P sectors were trading higher with financials up 1.89 percent, leading the gains.
The banking sector rose 2.62 percent boosted by big US lenders. JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co rose between 1.7 percent and 3.0 percent after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc increased its stake in the companies.
At 12:55 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 345.97 points, or 1.36 percent, at 25,785.36. The S&P 500 was up 22.52 points, or 0.82 percent, at 2,768.25 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 28.54 points, or 0.38 percent, at 7,455.49.