Stock indexes surged higher on Friday, assisted by a growing optimism the U.S. and China can strike a trade deal before the March 1 deadline.

A relatively quiet week with few notable economic and geopolitical developments ended with slight gains for U.S. equities.

Global equity markets reacted positively to an eventful week of economic and geopolitical news and corporate earnings results.

U.S. equities were mixed last week as concerns that the new year bull rally in prices could be a bit premature weighed on trading early in the week while strong corporate earnings announcements and encouraging reports on the future of Federal Reserve monetary policy helped to spark a late-week rally.

Rising optimism on developments in the trade dispute between the U.S. and China fueled stock returns for the fourth straight week of gains.