The S&P 500 touched a record high for the second straight session on Friday as hopes of trade talks between Washington and Beijing were lifted by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's decision to defer a planned speech on China policy. The decision was taken amid "positive signs" that trade talks with China could be back on track, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior administration official. The benchmark S&P 500 index hit an intraday high of 2,964.15 on Friday, but retreated into a tight range. Reuters reported that the stocks are now set to log their third straight week of gains, after posting their worst monthly performance this year in May on fears the prolonged trade war would hit global economic growth. At 13:09 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 45.72 points, or 0.17%, at 26,798.89 and the S&P 500 was down 0.53 points, or 0.02%, at 2,953.65. The Nasdaq Composite was down 7.13 points, or 0.09%, at 8,044.21. The tech-heavy index was weighed down by a 2.02% fall in PayPal Holdings Inc after the digital payments company said its chief operating officer Bill Ready would step down.
