US STOCKS-Wall St edges higher after Trump sparks U.S.-China trade hopes

* Trump predicts swift end to trade war with China
* Financial shares rebound as Treasury yields rise
* Foot Locker, Autodesk fall as quarterly profits disappoint
* Indexes up: Dow 0.37%, S&P 500 0.14%, Nasdaq 0.11%

(Updates to market close)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major stock
indexes edged higher on Friday after falling in the previous
session, as hopeful comments from U.S. President Donald Trump
regarding trade relations with China assuaged concerns among
some investors.
Trump said late on Thursday that he saw a resolution to the
trade war with China "happening fast." He added that Chinese
telecom equipment company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL ,
which the White House has blacklisted, could also be included in
a trade deal. Still, he called Huawei "very dangerous."
No high-level talks between the United States and China have
been scheduled since the last round of negotiations in
Washington two weeks ago.
Yet Trump's comments were enough to give a slight lift to
U.S. stocks in muted activity ahead of a long weekend. Friday
marked the lowest volume of the year for a full trading session.
U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day
holiday.
"There are some small positive stories here and there," said
John Carey, managing director and portfolio manager at Amundi
Pioneer Asset Management in Boston. "With light trading volume,
it doesn't take too much to get things moving."
Stocks rose broadly, with nine of the S&P 500's major
sectors moving higher, though declines in shares of Apple Inc
AAPL.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O capped gains on the major
indexes.
Even so, the S&P 500 .SPX ended the week more than 1%
lower to notch the third straight week of losses for the
benchmark index, which has been weighed down by fears that the
U.S.-China trade war would result in a global economic slowdown.
Adding to concerns about a slowing broader economy, data
showed that new orders for U.S.-made capital goods fell more
than expected in April. Despite Friday's gains, said Robert Phipps, a director at
Per Stirling Capital Management, "when you have the world's two
biggest economies intending to inflect economic pain on each
other, it's not a good environment for equity investors."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 95.22 points,
or 0.37%, to 25,585.69, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3.82 points,
or 0.14%, to 2,826.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
8.73 points, or 0.11%, to 7,637.01.
For the week, the Dow declined 0.68%, the S&P 500 fell 1.16%
and the Nasdaq dropped 2.29%. The Dow slid for the fifth
straight week, its longest such losing streak in eight years,
while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each registered their first
three-week declines of the year.
The small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT gained 0.9%, outpacing the
major indexes, though it fell 1.4% for the week. In a contrast
from their performance last spring, small-cap stocks have
dropped largely in line with their large-cap counterparts as
U.S.-China trade tensions have ratcheted up.
Financials .SPSY led percentage gains among the S&P 500's
major sectors, adding 0.8% as U.S. Treasury yields rose for the
first time in three days.
Foot Locker Inc FL.N shares plunged 16.0%, the most among
S&P 500 companies, after the footwear retailer missed quarterly
profit and same-store sales estimates. Total System Services Inc shares TSS.N jumped 13.9% on
reports that fellow payment technology services company Global
Payments Inc GPN.N is nearing a deal to acquire the company.
Global Payments shares rose 3.7%. Autodesk Inc ADSK.O shares fell 4.9% after the software
maker reported quarterly revenue and earnings that were below
expectations. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.98-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.83-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and 16 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 37 new highs and 105 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 5.48 billion shares, compared
to the 6.95 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.