US STOCKS-Trade deal hopes propel Wall St to fresh record highs

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* U.S., China getting close to trade deal-White House
adviser
* Applied Materials jumps on strong forecast
* S&P 500 on track for six weeks of gains
* Data shows U.S. retail sales rebound
* Indexes up: Dow 0.57%, S&P 0.59%, Nasdaq 0.66%

(Updates to late afternoon)
By Lewis Krauskopf
Nov 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main stock indexes hit
record highs on Friday, fueled by fresh optimism over a
potential calming of U.S.-China trade tensions and by a strong
forecast from semiconductor industry bellwether Applied
Materials.
The benchmark S&P 500 was on track for its sixth straight
week of gains.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late on
Thursday that the United States and China are getting close to a
trade agreement, citing what he called very constructive talks
with Beijing.
“Today is definitely about optimism surrounding the trade
tensions,” said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private
wealth at Glenmede in Philadelphia.
The stock market has climbed recently to record highs,
driven by Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, third-quarter
earnings topping low expectations and signs that economic growth
may be bottoming, while uncertainty over U.S.-China trade
relations remains a wild card.
"It's definitely been a big source of volatility over a
fairly long period of time for the markets and stocks in
general," Pride said. "To see some sort of resolution of it
would probably be a lift to investors and to equity holders
because it takes away a big piece of uncertainty in many
investors', and even corporate executives', minds.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 157.02 points,
or 0.57%, to 27,938.98, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 18.3 points,
or 0.59%, to 3,114.93 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
55.75 points, or 0.66%, to 8,534.76.
All three indexes hit all-time highs during the session.
Healthcare .SPXHC led the way among the S&P 500 sectors,
gaining 1.5%, helped by increases for Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N
and Pfizer PFE.N . All 11 sectors were in positive territory.
Shares of Applied Materials soared 9.0% after the chip gear
maker forecast first-quarter revenue and profit above Wall
Street estimates. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX gained 1.1%
and hit a record high. Enthusiasm for the group was tempered by
a 2.0% decline in Nvidia NVDA.O shares following the
chipmaker's report. Data on Friday showed U.S. retail sales rebounded in
October, but consumers cut back on purchases of big-ticket
household items and clothing, which could temper expectations
for a strong holiday shopping season. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.90-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.66-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 106 new highs and 93 new lows.