Friday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Mixed, While Hong Kong Enters Recession, Kudlow Offers Hope For China Trade Deal

U.S. stocks have delivered healthy gains at noon, buoyed by optimism about an upcoming U.S.-China trade pact and positive retail sales data from October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 145.7 points to 27925.16, the S&P 500 index climbed 16.9 points to 3113.46 and the Nasdaq Composite index jumped 49 points to 8528.94.

All three benchmarks had set new intraday highs in Friday morning trading.

Shares of Applied Materials (AMAT) have leaped 9.5% after the chip-equipment company reported a profit fall, but which nevertheless beat Wall Street expectations, suggesting semiconductor industry is poised for rebound.

RH (RH), the luxury home goods retailer, surged nearly 12% on news it has received an investment stake from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB).

In other corporate news, Amazon.com (AMZN) said it will protest a 10-year, $10 billion cloud-computing contract awarded to Microsoft (MSFT) last month by the Pentagon, citing the presence of “political influence.” President Trump is a long-time critic of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.

In other news, former United States Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified at Trump’s impeachment hearing that she felt intimidated by the president.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales increased 0.3% in October, following a 0.3% drop in the prior month. Meanwhile, the New York Fed said The Empire State factory index, a measure of business conditions, fell 1.1 points to 2.9 in November.

Overnight in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.01%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.64%.

Alibaba (BABA), the Chinese e-commerce company, said Friday it will begin offering shares to retail investors for up to $24 each. Its shares were up about 1.1% at noon.

Hong Kong’s government confirmed its economy entered recession for first time in decade.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.14% while the German DAX rose 0.47% and the French CAC 40 climbed 0.65%.

Crude oil futures were up 1.66% to $57.71 per barrel, while Brent crude rose 1.64% to $63.29. Gold futures are down 0.52%.

The euro was down 0.24% to $1.046, while the pound sterling has climbed 0.16% to $1.2900.