U.S. markets and stock exchange traded funds pressed forward toward new record levels, Friday, as healthy earnings and signs of a stabilizing Chinese economy helped lift equities.
On Friday, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) was up 0.2%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) rose 0.1% and SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY) gained 0.2%.
China revealed industrial production recovered last year after a 6.9% growth in output in December, beating projections and revealing its fastest pace of expansion in nine months, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The improved economic data added to expectations about a rebounding economy after the United States and China signed a partial trade deal to end the protracted trade war that has weighed on growth.
“It’s a case of looking at it as a glass-half-full, rather than a glass-half-empty,” Geoffrey Yu, head of the U.K. office for UBS Group’s wealth management arm, told the WSJ. “There is a general sense that it could have been a lot worse.”