Markets Rise Amid Investors’ Hope of Tariff Easing

The stock market recorded a weekly gain, as investors latch on to any signs of easing trade tensions.

The S&P 500, which was roughly flat in early trading on Friday before rising 0.7 percent for the day, ended the week 4.6 percent higher. Still, the index 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 fueled by Mr. Trump’s renewed attacks on Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, followed by four days of sizable gains.

On Friday, jittery traders were confronted with the latest in a stream of contradicting claims about trade negotiations and tariffs. The head of an American business group in China said that the Chinese government was 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.

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. Mr. Trump suggested in an interview with Time that he had been in touch with Xi Jinping, China’s president, and asserted that his team was in active talks with China on a trade deal.