US stocks tilted higher on Friday, eyeing fresh record highs as a call between Presidents Trump and Xi got underway, amid hopes for the TikTok deal and a break in the US-China trade standoff.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose around 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 0.3%. The indexes' moves kept an advance on Thursday's all-time highs in play.

The focus is on Trump's conversation with his Chinese counterpart, which started at 8 a.m. ET on Friday. Trump set high expectations for the outcome of the call, describing a TikTok deal as all but completed and stressing he is hopeful the two deadlocked countries can negotiate over trade.

"On a much bigger scale, we're pretty close to a deal," Trump said about talks with China.

Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs

However, Trump said the US may end up extending the tariff truce now in place between the two countries, denting hopes for a more conclusive trade pact. The current pause has "pretty good terms," he said.

Wall Street looks set to end an eventful week on a positive note, as the dust settles on the Federal Reserve's return to interest rate cuts and Nvidia's (NVDA) $5 billion investment in Intel (INTC) on Thursday. The three major US gauges are on track for more weekly gains after extending their record-setting run.

US stocks edged higher on Friday at the open, eyeing fresh records.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) climbed more than 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed over 0.3%. The gains kept an advance on Thursday's all-time highs in play.

The moves come as a highly anticipated call between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is underway, with the fate of TikTok and potentially the trade relationship between the world's two largest economies in the balance, Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports. The call began at 8 am E.T. on Friday.

Citi (C) analyst Christopher Danely downgraded Intel (INTC) shares to Sell from Hold on Friday, following a rally in the stock.

Shares in the chipmaker surged Thursday on news of a partnership with AI bellwether Nvidia (NVDA). But Danley believes the pact, which sees Nvidia taking a $5 billion stake in Intel, isn't as helpful to Intel as it seems.

The deal also involves Nvidia using Intel's CPUs — central processing units, or traditional computer chips that are the \\"brain\\" of a computer — in its AI server systems. For its part, Intel will use Nvidia's AI tech in its CPUs for personal computers.

But Danely said his team of analysts \\"doubt this makes Intel CPUs more competitive\\" in the PC space.

This, he explained, is because integrating another company’s graphics — in this case, Nvidia's GPU \\"chiplets\\" — wouldn’t make a CPU more competitive. That's because the chip itself is the main performance driver for a personal computer.

As for Intel's deal to supply CPUs for Nvidia's AI server systems for data centers, Danely sees the market opportunity s \\"small,\\" at roughly $1 billion to $2 billion.

On Thursday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told journalists that he sees that very same market opportunity being $30 billion.

Danely also said:\\"We downgrade Intel from Neutral to Sell given our belief the stock is pricing in success in its leading-edge foundry business, which we believe has minimal chance to succeed.\\"

The partnership announcement critically failed to mention Intel's contract manufacturing (foundry) business, which has been driving losses at the company as it conducts mass layoffs and pauses factory plans.

Intel shares fell fractionally in premarket trading Friday.

Housing stocks were always likely to benefit from the Fed's return to easing, and they have perked up in recent weeks as the universally expected interest-rate cut got priced in.

Reuters reports:

The PHLX Housing (^HGX) index has jumped more than 16% so far this quarter, against a roughly 7% gain for the S&P 500 (^GSPC), although the housing gauge still trails the benchmark stock market index on a year-to-date basis.

Big gainers this quarter include DR Horton (DHI), up over 30%, and KB Home (KBH) and Toll Brothers (TOL), both up over 20%. Home improvement retailers Lowe's (LOW) and Home Depot (HD)are up about 21% and 14% so far in the quarter. ...

The Fed's move to lower interest rates comes amid signs of struggle in the housing market. US single-family homebuilding plunged to a near 2-1/2-year low in August, data on Wednesday showed. Fed Chair Jerome Powell described housing sector activity as \\"weak\\" in a press conference after the central bank's policy decision.

\\"If you can get some of those mortgage rates to come down, maybe that breathes a little bit of life back into the housing market,\\" said Jack Janasiewicz, lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, adding that getting mortgage rates down in the 5% range was an important threshold.

Read more here.

What does it mean that only a fraction of the country's population — its wealthiest consumers — are propping up spending growth, while the vast majority of people are barely shelling out enough to keep pace with inflation?

Yahoo Finance's Hamza Shaban gets to grips with that disparity in today's Morning Brief:

One answer to that question, on a grand scale, is that the US economy is largely powered by the well-to-do. Wall Street can thank the spending whimsies of the affluent for being the bulwark between our current economy and a recession.

Another, zoomed-in, answer: We now have luxury credit cards that cost close to $1,000 just to hold.

On Thursday, Amex unveiled its revamped Platinum credit card. It offers expanded travel and dining benefits to more easily digest a $200 fee hike, which brings the annual cost to $895.

The credit card perk wars are once again upon us. And so are the striking dichotomies that define the US economy. We have all-time highs in the stock market, alongside rising unemployment and a \\"limited-edition mirror card design\\". That contrasts with research showing consumers in the top 10% of the income distribution account for nearly half of all spending.

Is this sustainable? ... For what it's worth, Fed Chair Jerome Powell isn't alarmed.

Read more here.

Economic data: No notable economic data releases.

Earnings calendar: No notable earnings.

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Trump gears up for high-stakes call with China's Xi

Intel has a major problem that $5 billion from Nvidia can't fix

Amex's Platinum overhaul intensifies the credit card perk wars

Trump, Xi look for TikTok win to ease tariff stalemate

Trump's war on media reaches new level with Kimmel takedown

Apple's new-look iPhone 17, Air models go on sale

Nvidia explores $500M investment in UK self-driving startup Wayve

China auto industry body to launch discrimination probe into US chips

US stocks are trading at record levels with earnings season right around the corner — and rising expectations for Corporate America’s profit growth are a sign that the rally can keep going, despite tariff risks.

Bloomberg reports:

Among the companies in the S&P 500 Index (^GSPC) that provided guidance for their third-quarter results, more than 22% were expecting to beat analysts’ expectations — the highest reading in a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

In addition, the share of firms issuing worse-than-expected profit forecasts was the lowest in four quarters.

The improving profit outlook flies in the face of what many Wall Street pros had been expecting as the initial wave of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump started to hit.

“People have been crying wolf regarding tariffs, but the wolf has yet to appear,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “And the real question is, has the wolf been delayed or eliminated? It seems like corporations are absorbing most of the tariffs costs.”

Wall Street analysts expect S&P 500 companies to post 6.9% earnings growth in the third quarter, up from 6.7% at the end of May, Bloomberg Intelligence data show. The improving sentiment is a sign of rising confidence in the businesses’ ability to withstand Trump’s tariffs.

Read more here.

Shares of FedEx (FDX) rose over 5% in premarket after the delivery giant's quarterly profit and sales topped Wall Street estimates.

Analysts had predicted a hit to profit after the Trump administration put an end to \\"de minimis\\" exemptions for shipments worth under $800, so they were no longer delivered duty-free.

Reuters reports:

Cost-cutting and strength in domestic deliveries helped offset weaker international volumes after the US ended tariff exemptions on low-value, direct-to-consumer shipments.

While total international average daily export volume fell 3%, overall average daily volume including domestic parcels rose 4% for the quarter, and revenue per package increased by 2%.

FedEx has been working on slashing billions of dollars in operating costs by parking planes, closing facilities and merging some of its units. It has a $1 billion cost-saving plan for this fiscal year ending in May 2026. Those efforts helped shelter profits.

Read more here.

Here's a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

Intel (INTC) stock fell 2% in premarket trading on Friday following the news that Nvidia (NVDA) will take a $5 billion stake in the company. Intel rallied on Thursday after Nvidia made the announcement and closing 22% up.

Synopsys, Inc. (SNPS) stock fell 1% before the bell on Friday after rising 12% on Thursday following the Intel, Nvidia news.

Lennar (LEN) stock fell 2% in premarket trading on Friday after reporting a 46% drop in third-quarter profit and forecasting fourth-quarter home deliveries below Wall Street estimates. High inflation and affordability pressures have hindered US homebuilders.

Gold (GC=F) fell for a third consecutive day as the impact of the Fed's rate-cut was felt in markets for the haven asset.

Bullion was trading about $70 short of Wednesday’s all-time high — a record triggered by the US central bank’s announcement of a 25 basis-point rate cut. Prices have since slid after Fed Chair Jerome Powell made comments on the monetary policy path that were less dovish than expected, saying officials were in a “meeting-by-meeting situation” regarding any further easing. Lower rates typically benefit gold, as it doesn’t pay yields.

Powell’s stance also bolstered the US dollar, which is a negative for gold as it makes it more expensive to purchase in other currencies.

Traders are still pricing in almost two more rate cuts this year, with the expectation of Fed monetary easing a major catalyst in bullion’s 38% surge this year. Prices have also been supported in 2025 by haven demand due to concerns over geopolitical conflicts and the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the global economy, along with increased central bank purchases and holdings in exchange-traded funds.

Read more here.