The major U.S. composites exhibited mixed fortunes for most of Friday, before a mid-afternoon update on trade stoked a rally that persisted until the closing bell. Indeed, while both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 spent the majority of the session in positive territory and were on track for weekly gains, the NASDAQ and small-cap Russell 2000 were firmly below their breakeven lines when, at about 2:00 PM EST, a report suggested that the leaders of the United States and China would hold trade discussions in November.