Wall Street's main indexes were on track for weekly gains Friday, though they struggled for direction on the day as investors navigated contradictory messages on U.S.-China trade and a mixed spate of corporate earnings.
The overall mood was jittery after U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview he would consider it a "total victory" if the country had tariffs as high as 50% on foreign imports a year from now, and added that his administration is talking with China to strike a tariff deal.
Beijing, however, continues to dispute that negotiations are taking place. The conflicting headlines offset some optimism after China granted some U.S. imports exemptions from its hefty 125% tariffs, according to businesses notified.
"The negotiations between the U.S. and China are probably the toughest negotiations of any (of) the trade negotiations that are on the table ... you shouldn't expect a smooth immediate resolution," said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede.
A few upbeat corporate earnings helped limit losses. Heavyweight Alphabet rose 1.9% after the Google-parent reported upbeat first-quarter results, while Charter Communications leapt 11% to the top of the S&P 500 after its results.
Despite the day's volatility, major indexes were set for strong weekly gains after notching three back-to-back sessions of gains on Thursday.
The S&P 500 is so far up 3.7% for the week to date, while the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow have gained 5.6% and 1.7%, respectively, driven also by hopes of de-escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and Trump's backtracking on threats to fire the head of the Federal Reserve.
However, sentiment remains highly cautious amid trade uncertainty, indications of a souring economic outlook and hits to company earnings from tariffs.</p> <p>The benchmark index remains below levels prior to the April 2 announcement, and is nearly 11% off its February record close.
"Traders are going into the weekend knowing that there’s a strong probability that President Trump will say something market-moving, yet must wait until the markets reopen to react," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at TradeNation.
U.S. consumer sentiment ebbed for a fourth straight month in April, the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers showed.
At 1:09 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47.84 points, or 0.12%, the S&P 500 gained 29.10, or 0.53%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 183.17 points, or 1.07%.
An 8.6% jump in shares of Tesla helped lift the consumer discretionary sector, and was the biggest boost to the Nasdaq.
Intel dropped 7.2% following the chipmaker's dour forecast, while T-Mobile slumped 11% after adding fewer wireless subscribers than expected in the first quarter.
Of the 179 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported first-quarter earnings to date, nearly 73% have topped analysts' expectations, as per data compiled by LSEG.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and three new lows. The Nasdaq Composite recorded 14 new highs and 21 new lows.