US markets closed the week on a positive footing, with sentiment buoyed by a solid March jobs report and some fresh upbeat commentary around the US-China trade negotiations - Dow up +40-points or +0.15% The broader S&P500 +0.46% to log its seventh consecutive session gain - its longest such winning streak since October 2017. Constellation Brands Inc (up +0.97%) rebounded from an earlier fall following a downgrade from Deutsche Bank to a hold rating from buy. NASDAQ +0.59%. China's Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a letter to President Trump that substantial progress had been made in US-China talks over the past months and called for negotiations to be wrapped up as soon as possible. This followed comments last Thursday (4 April) from President Trump, who said the US and China were “rounding the turn” in lengthy talks and predicted that “something monumental” for both countries could be announced in a matter of weeks. For the week, the Dow rose +1.9%. The S&P500 advanced +2.1%, with Materials (up +4.3%) and Financials (+3.3%) the best performing sectors. The technology-centric Nasdaq rose +2.7%.
