US STOCKS-Trade optimism, earnings power Wall St to fresh record high

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Kudlow says U.S., China getting close to trade deal
* Applied Materials jumps on strong forecast
* Data shows domestic retail sales rebound in October
* Indexes up: Dow 0.39%, S&P 0.35%, Nasdaq 0.46%

(Updates to open)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes hit fresh
record highs on Friday, led by gains in technology stocks as
upbeat comments related to U.S.-China trade talks and solid
earnings from semiconductor industry bellwether Applied
Materials brightened sentiment.
Shares in Applied Materials Inc AMAT.O jumped 9.2% and
pushed the Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX to an
all-time high after the chip gear maker forecast first-quarter
results above estimates. Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher. The
trade-sensitive technology sector .SPLRCT rose 0.5%, providing
the biggest boost.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late on
Thursday that the world's two largest economies were getting
close to a trade agreement, citing what he called very
constructive talks with Beijing. Adding to the upbeat mood, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
said there would be a call between U.S. and Chinese officials
later on Friday. "We have been here so many times where the market gets its
hopes up and then it gets crushed," said Scott Brown, chief
economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"But certainly with an election coming up next year, you
would want to have all these things behind you, so a mini-deal
or a trade truce makes a lot of sense."
Data 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. The report comes a day after the benchmark S&P hit an
all-time closing high following robust earnings from retail
giant Walmart Inc WMT.N .
Wall Street's main indexes have been powered recently by
hopes of a trade deal, largely better-than-expected
third-quarter earnings and a third interest rate cut by the
Federal Reserve.
At 10:15 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 107.75 points, or 0.39%, at 27,889.71, while the S&P 500
.SPX was up 10.97 points, or 0.35%, at 3,107.60. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 38.97 points, or 0.46%, at 8,517.99.
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O gained 2% after Mizuho upgraded its
rating on the stock to "buy" from "neutral". But Nvidia Corp NVDA.O fell 3.3% as the company said it
expects its gaming chip business to be impacted by seasonal
weakness in the fourth quarter. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.70-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 39 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 73 new highs and 62 new lows.