Despite international trade disputes and some political uncertainty heading into midterm elections, U.S. stocks posted a strong third quarter with the best quarterly returns since the fourth quarter of 2013.

Last week, U.S. equities broadly advanced as investors shrugged off concerns from international trade tensions and maintained confidence that the strength of U.S. economy would keep the bull market running.

U.S. stocks ended a relatively positive week on a down note amid news that the White House plans to move forward with tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods to take effect on September 24th.

Growing fears of trade war escalation between the U.S. and China and emerging market turmoil weighed on U.S. and global equities this past week.

U.S. equities continued their climb upward last week with strong momentum on the back of positive economic data, primarily an upward revision of second quarter GDP growth from 4.1% to 4.2%, as well as the bilateral trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to restructure NAFTA.