US close: Wall Street snaps three-day losing streak
US stocks closed higher ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday as stocks snapped the three-day losing streak that halted its historic rally.
At the close, the Dow Junes Industrial Average was up 0.39% at 27,875.62, while the S&P 500 picked up 0.22% to 3,110.29 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.16% firmer at 8,519.88.
The Dow Jones closed 109.33 points higher on Friday after closing lower in the previous session as a result of uncertainty regarding the chances of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing being reached.
However, sentiment got a boost ahead of the bell on Friday after Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing wanted to work towards a trade deal with the US, although the Chinese leader also warned that China was not afraid to "fight back".
Close on the heels of Xi's remarks, news broke that Washington and Beijing were reportedly "very" close to striking a preliminary trade deal.
In remarks to Fox News, Donald Trump reportedly said: "We have a deal potentially very close.
"He [Chinese President Xi Jinping] wants to make it much more than I want to make it. I'm not anxious to make it. We're taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs."
On the data front, IHS Markit said its US 'flash' manufacturing sector purchasing managers index rose to 52.2 in November following a print of 51.3 for October on the back of a small upturn in service sector new business. Both manufacturers and service providers indicated a rise in workforce numbers.
The same survey compiler's US flash services sector purchasing managers index for November rose to 51.6 from 50.6 - marking the quickest expansion since July.
Elsewhere, the final reading on the University of Michigan's US consumer-sentiment index for November came to 96.8 - above the October level of 95.5 and the preliminary reading of 95.7.
Lastly, manufacturing activity in the centre of America contracted again in November, according to the Tenth District Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
The composite index was -3 for the month, the same as it had been the prior month.
In corporate news, Foot Locker shares were down despite posting a Q3 earning beat ahead of the open, while JM Smucker shares closed higher even as it revealed a Q3 sales miss.