U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, 15 March 2019 with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finishing at five-month highs, as market sentiment was buoyed by encouraging headlines on U.S.-China trade negotiations and Chinese assurances of forthcoming economic stimulus.

The S&P 500 index climbed 14 points, or 0.5%, to 2,822.48 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 57.62 points, 0.8%, to 7,688.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 138.93 points, or 0.5%, to 25,848.87.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.6%, and the Nasdaq rallied 3.8% while the S&P 500 added 2.9%.

Stocks began the session on a higher note, helped by a Chinese report that the U.S. and China have made concrete progress in talks about the text of a trade agreement. Separately, talk that China is considering using monetary tools to further help the economy, and Japan explicitly saying it will keep interest rates low for an extended period, aided investor sentiment. The Bank of Japan left its interest key policy rate unchanged at -0.1%, as expected.The S&P 500 information technology sector was the session's outright leader, followed by the consumer discretionary sector. Conversely, the real estate, industrials, and energy sectors were the lone groups to finish with losses.

Trade talks between the two of the globe's largest economies has been chief among concerns for investors because an heated war between the two have the potential to hurt economies world-wide.

The ICE U.S. Dollar, a measure of the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, was off 0.2% at 96.566 and on track for a weekly decline of 0.8%. A weaker dollar can be supportive for commodities priced in the unit, making them cheaper to users of other currencies.

Reviewing Friday's batch of economic data, Industrial production increased just 0.1% in February (consensus +0.4%) on the heels of an upwardly revised 0.4% decline (from -0.6%) in January. The capacity utilization rate dipped to 78.2% (consensus 78.5%) from an upwardly revised 78.3% (from 78.2%) in January.The key takeaway from the report is that manufacturing output remained weak, declining 0.4%, which was the second consecutive monthly decline.

The preliminary March reading for the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment checked in at 97.8 (consensus 94.9), up from the final reading of 93.8 for February. The key takeaway from the report is that real income expectations, which account for inflation, increased in households across lower, middle, and upper incomes. That favorable outlook is supportive for consumer spending activity.

Separately, the January Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 7.581 million from a revised 7.479 million (from 7.355 million) in December. ALso, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey for March fell to 3.7 (consensus 10.0) from the prior month's unrevised reading of 8.8.

Shares of Facebook fell 2.5% after the social media firm said that two senior executives were leaving the company. Amazon stock rose 1.6% after KeyBanc Capital raised its rating on the stock to overweight. Shares of Boeing gained 1.5% following reports that it would push out a software update that could mitigate issues that led to the grounding of its 737 8 Max planes in the U.S. and abroad.

Crude-oil futures finished lower on Friday, 15 March 2019 with U.S. prices pulling back after four days of consecutive gains that prompted crude to tally its best weekly gain in about a month, amid growing signs of tightening global supplies.

April West Texas Intermediate crude shed 9 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $58.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after settling at its highest level since mid-November on Thursday. WTI tallied a weekly gain of about 4.4% based on the most-active contracts. May Brent crude meanwhile, lost 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $67.16 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, with the contract up 2.2% for the week.

On Friday, the International Energy Agency said output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had fallen by 240,000 barrels a day last month, to 30.68 million barrels day, its lowest level in four years. The IEA cited losses in Venezuela, and lower output from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.It left its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2019 unchanged at 1.4 million barrels a day.

Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Friday, 15 March 2019. Gold futures climbed on Friday to score a gain for the week, with the metal finding support in the wake of mass shootings at two mosques in New Zealand, as well as from a weaker tone for the U.S. dollar.

On Friday, gold for April delivery on Comex rose $7.80, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,302.90 an ounce, with prices logging a weekly rise of 0.3%. May silver also rose 15.3 cents, or 1%, to $15.324 an ounce, though still ending about 0.2% lower on the week.

U.S. Treasuries closed the session on a higher note, pushing yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 2.44%, and the 10-yr yield declined four basis points to 2.59%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.2% to 96.60. WTI crude lost 0.3% to $58.39/bbl.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the NAHB Housing Market Index for March on Monday.

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