Wall Street finishes up as stimulus talks continue

US stocks ended higher on Friday and registered gains for the week as optimism over more federal fiscal aid grew.

Talks were expected to continue on a COVID-19 stimulus package, even though US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed on Friday to reach agreement.

Mnuchin floated a new proposal Friday afternoon, but an aide for Pelosi said it lacked a broad plan to contain the pandemic.

Recent trading on Wall Street has been dictated by headlines on fiscal aid, with the three main indexes tumbling on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump called off negotiations. He has since indicated he was willing to resume discussions.

"The market's reacting well to Trump's sudden turnaround in terms of a support package and this new package that he proposed that's much larger than previously," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York, New York.

"It probably shows some desperation on his part. A lot of this has been politics, but a lot of people believe the economy really needs some economic support here, so that's a good thing."

Technology shares rose, and the sector gave the S&P 500 its biggest boost.

Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.59 points, or 0.57%, to 28,587.1, the S&P 500 gained 30.29 points, or 0.88%, to 3,477.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 158.96 points, or 1.39%, to 11,579.94.

Energy stocks fell following recent gains.

Strategists say investors have also begun to digest the possibility of Democratic candidate Joe Biden winning the Nov. 3 presidential election after a fractious debate last month led to a jump in his lead over Trump in several national polls.

Xilinx Inc surged after a report said Advanced Micro Devices Inc was in talks to buy the chipmaker in a deal valued at more than $30 billion.

General Electric Co jumped as a report said Goldman Sachs reinstated coverage on the US industrial conglomerate with a "buy" rating, saying the company will emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.