Stocks Erase Tariff-Driven Losses, Post Longest Winning Streak in 20 Years

The S&P 500 on Friday rose for a ninth consecutive session, its longest winning streak in more than two decades. 

The benchmark index of U.S. stocks advanced 1.5% Friday after Chinese officials signaled interest in ending the trade war with the U.S. Friday’s gains capped off the index’s longest streak since November 2004.

Friday’s rally also erased all of the S&P 500’s post-“Liberation Day” losses. The index, which in mid-April was down more than 15% from the start of the year, is now down less than 4% year-to-date.

Investors have slowly regained their appetite for risk after President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in early April prompted one of the worst stock sell-offs in decades. A slew of solid earnings reports and hope for tariff relief have helped the S&P 500 rise nearly 8.7% in the last eight sessions, its biggest rally of that length since November 2020 when stocks were buoyed by the completion of Covid-19 vaccines.

Markets rose broadly Friday, with all three leading US indexes gaining more than 1%. Read Investopedia’s full coverage of today’s trading here.

Update—May 2, 2025: This story was updated to reflect the market close on Friday.