Stocks on Track for a Weekly Gain

The stock market is heading for a weekly gain despite pointing to a lower open on Friday, as investors latch on to any signs of easing trade tensions.

The head of an American business group in China on Friday said that the Chinese government is considering exempting some products from its 125 percent retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said that the commerce ministry had canvassed businesses in China to identify U.S. imports that were crucial to supply chains and vulnerable to China’s new trade barriers. For some companies, he said, “their business model would not work in China, and we would see them exit” if the trade war persisted long-term.

Although futures on the S&P 500 inched lower ahead of Friday’s open, the index was nearly 4 percent higher on the week through Thursday, though it remains sharply lower since President Trump returned to office.

The stock market has seen dramatic swings in recent days, with Wall Street grasping for scraps of information about tariffs, trade and other crucial issues that can shift from day to day. Monday saw a sharp sell-off, followed by three days of sizable gains.

Also on Friday, the Chinese government reiterated that it was not engaged in trade negotiations with officials in Washington, pushing back against Mr. Trump’s claim that the U.S.-China talks were underway. “The United States should not confuse the public,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Markets in Asia were broadly higher, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 1.8 percent and Taiwan’s benchmark index up 2 percent. In Europe, stocks were gaining ground.

There have been indications that China may be relenting on tariffs on semiconductors made in the United States. China depends on foreign companies for advanced computer chips, and many in the country’s tech industry have hoped semiconductors will escape the tariffs.

This month, a state-backed trade association in China said that a significant portion of advanced chips from American companies would be exempt from China’s tariffs if they were made outside the United States.

Reports circulating in Chinese media outlets and on Chinese social media this week said that Beijing had decided not to subject some semiconductor-related products that were made in the United States to retaliatory tariffs. The Chinese government has not announced any such policy.

On Friday, China’s governing Politburo said it was ready to support the economy during the turmoil caused by the trade war. An official summary of the meeting, which China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, presided over, was thin on specifics but said the government was ready to “stabilize employment” and increase unemployment insurance funding at companies “severely affected by tariffs.”

Executives at American consumer companies have said that worries over the global economy is dampening spending. On Thursday, PepsiCo cut its full-year guidance outlook, citing a reduction in consumer spending as well as the impact of increased global tariffs. Procter & Gamble, which makes household staples like Tide detergent, also cut its full-year outlook and said whiplash on tariff policy had factored into a “pause” in consumption.

Elsewhere in the markets:

• The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds fell three basis points, to 4.27 percent.

• Oil futures wobbled, with Brent crude falling about 1 percent, to under $66 a barrel.

• Gold continued its slide, to below $3,300, after briefly reaching a record $3,500 an ounce on Monday.

Claire Fu and Siyi Zhao contributed research.