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Chinese officials are making plans for President Xi Jinping to visit Southeast Asia and meet face-to-face with President Joe Biden in November, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing unnamed sources. It would mark the Chinese leader's first international trip in nearly three years and his first in-person meeting with Biden since the U.S. president's inauguration, the report said. A White House official, Kurt Campbell, on Friday told reporters that he could "confirm that the two leaders, when they spoke last, discussed a possible face-to-face meeting," and "agreed to have their teams follow-up to sort out the specifics," but said he didn't "have anything further in terms of details on time or location." The Biden administration "in the coming days" will announce a roadmap for trade negotiations with China, according to Campbell, whose title is deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council.
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Stocks closed out the week with a bang Friday, boosted by an encouraging reading on consumer sentiment.
Ahead of today's opening bell, the University of Michigan said its preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 55.1 in August from July's final reading of 51.5. However, the data also showed that 48% of survey respondents believe inflation is negatively impacting their living standards.
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"Consumers are nervous about spending on big ticket items and are increasingly convinced that now is a bad time to buy a vehicle or a major household item," says Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at independent broker-dealer LPL Financial. "Consumer spending will likely slow in the near term."
Investors will get a closer look at consumer data next week with July's retail sales figures due out Thursday morning, and a heavy dose of retailers on the earnings calendar. While their quarterly results will reveal details on consumer spending during the second quarter, post-report earnings calls with analysts could shed more light on current conditions.
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Today's broad-based rally was led by strong performances in the technology ( 2.0%) and communication services ( 1.8%) sectors. As such, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outpaced its peers, jumping 2.1% to 13,047. The S&P 500 Index gained 1.7% to 4,280 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3% to 33,761. The Nasdaq and S&
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