US Stocks Notch Solid Gains

Stocks are closing solidly higher on Wall Street as traders become more hopeful that some of the US's frictions with its trading partners will ease, the AP reports. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that Washington is getting closer to lifting tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada and Mexico. Mnuchin also said he would travel soon to Beijing to resume trade talks. Longtime market favorites had some of the biggest gains. Google parent company Alphabet rose 4.1%, Facebook rose 3.1%, and Amazon climbed 1.7%. The S&P 500 index rose 16 points, or 0.6%, to 2,850. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115 points, or 0.5%, to 25,648. The Nasdaq rose 87 points, or 1.1%, to 7,822. (More stock market stories.)