New York (AFP)

Wall Street ended the week in the green on Friday and the S & P 500 came close to its record as the market moved higher on the back of generally positive quarterly results and moderate optimism on the trading front.

Its flagship index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 0.57% to 26,958.06 points.

The Nasdaq, with strong technological coloration, took 0.70%, to 8,243.12 points.

The broad-based S & P 500 index gained 0.41% to hit 3,022.55 points, falling only a few points from its record high in late July.

Over the week as a whole, the Dow Jones gained 0.7%, the Nasdaq rose 1.9% and the S & P 500 gained 1.2%.

The New York market has been reassured by encouraging results across a number of listed companies.

Amazon has certainly disappointed Thursday night, weighed down by the exorbitant cost of its delivery service in 24 hours and the fall in its net profit, but limited the break on Wall Street, losing only 1.09% Friday.

Intel, meanwhile, climbed more than 8% on Friday after announcing results far above expectations and raising its financial targets for the fourth quarter.

Among the other groups to report on their results, the American biotech Gilead Sciences on Thursday reported a heavy quarterly loss due to a charge related to a strategic partnership with a specialist in rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease among men. Its stock fell by 5.21%.

Visa, which did better than expected, rose 0.96%.

Verizon has dropped 0.35% after yet announced Friday more than half a million new mobile subscribers.

Nearly 40% of S & P 500 companies have already submitted their quarterly health newsletter.

The media and telecommunications group AT & T and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, are among the groups that will perform this exercise early next week.

Investors also seemed encouraged by an announcement by the US Trade Representative (USTR), indicating that part of the trade agreement between the United States and China was about to be finalized.

"The market could go even higher if phase 1 of this agreement materializes, but it could fall if it fails," predicts Art Hogan of National.

In the bond market, the 10-year rate on US debt was up around 20.20 GMT to 1.798%, against 1.766% the day before closing.

© 2019 AFP