Wall Street hits fresh milestones, Dow Jones soars above 28,000

The main US stock indices surged on Friday, lifted by market optimism over the US-China trade talks and robust retail data, to end a week full of fresh record highs.

The White House chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that the US and China trade talk is progressing, and the first phase of the trade deal is getting close, despite news reports about hurdles in the way of a final agreement.

US data showed today that retail sales rose by 0.3% in October, while the industrial production fell by 0.8%, and import prices fell by 0.5%.

To the oil market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose by 1.7% to close at $57.72 a barrel, posted 0.8% weekly gain, and hit a session-high of $57.9 and a low of $56.4.

Brent rose by 1.6% to $63.3 a barrel, and scored 1.3% weekly gain, with a high of $63.6 and a low of $61.7.

As for stocks, Dow Jones jumped 0.8% or 223 points and settled at 28,005, and registered a weekly gain of 1.1%, with an intraday high of 28,005 and a low of 27,843.

Nasdaq rose 0.7% or 62 points to 8,541, with 0.8% weekly gains, and hit a high of 8,541 and a low of 8,507.

S&P 500 rose by 0.7% or 24 points to finish at 3,120, and scored weekly gains of 0.7%, with a high of 3120 and a low of 3104.