US STOCKS-S&P 500 nears record high on trade progress, upbeat Intel earnings

* U.S. close to finalizing parts of trade pact with China
* Intel jumps after raising revenue forecast
* Amazon drops on weak holiday-quarter forecast
* Indexes up: Dow 0.57%, S&P 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.70%

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comment to
market close)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Oct 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday
after Washington said it was close to finalizing parts of a
trade pact with Beijing and strong quarterly results from Intel
Corp INTC.O boosted investor sentiment, sending the S&P 500
briefly over the record high close it set three months ago.
During the session, the benchmark index .SPX peaked at
3,027.39, which surpassed its closing record of 3,025.86 on July
26. It ended at 3,022.55, and the S&P 500 total return index
.SPXT notched an all-time high.
U.S. stocks rose early after the U.S. Trade Representative's
office said deputy-level talks would continue. President Donald
Trump said China wanted "to make a deal very badly." Wall Street enjoyed a strong week, boosted by a clutch of
better-than-expected third-quarter earnings reports. The S&P 500
posted its biggest weekly percentage gain in seven weeks, the
Nasdaq its biggest in eight weeks.
"The little bit of positive trade news has pushed the market
up, but it wasn't all that negative even before this news came
up," said Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan
Stanley Investment Management in New York. "There's not a lot of
selling left out there."
Intel's quarterly report added to Friday's upbeat sentiment.
The chipmaker's shares jumped 8.1%, their largest daily
percentage gain since January 2018, after the company beat Wall
Street revenue and profit estimates and raised its full-year
revenue forecast. The gain in Intel helped propel the Philadelphia SE
Semiconductor index .SOX to a record high.
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O fell after the e-commerce giant
forecast revenue and profit for the crucial holiday quarter
below estimates. Amazon shares ended 1.1% lower, well off their
session low. "The market reaction to Amazon wasn't as bad as people
thought, which created a positive atmosphere," said Michael
O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich,
Connecticut.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 152.53 points,
or 0.57%, to 26,958.06, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 12.26 points,
or 0.41%, to 3,022.55 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
57.32 points, or 0.7%, to 8,243.12.
For the week, the S&P 500 rose 1.2%, the Dow gained 0.7% and
the Nasdaq climbed 1.9%.
Charter Communications Inc CHTR.O shares gained 6.2%. The
cable operator's results beat forecasts, fueled by customer
growth in broadband services. Boeing Co BA.N shares dropped 1.4% after Indonesian
authorities looking into October 2018's Lion Air crash said the
world's largest planemaker failed to grasp risks in the design
of cockpit software on its 737 MAX jet. Shares of VF Corp VFC.N fell 7.3% after the apparel maker
reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as competition
intensified for its Vans and Timberland brands. The next round of earnings due next week includes Apple Inc
AAPL.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , Pfizer Inc PFE.N and Merck &
Co Inc MRK.N .
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a
1.41-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.50-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 39 new 52-week highs and two new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 59 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.29 billion shares, compared
to the 6.46 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.