U.S. stocks closed the week mixed on Friday despite a positive retail sales report and indications trade tensions with China are easing.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 36.28 points or 0.13%. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closed the day lower, off 0.08% and 0.22%, respectively.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 2.8 billion shares with 1,389 issues advancing and 1.587issues declining. Leading the most actives were Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and General Electric Co. (GE).

The Commerce Department reported retail sales were up 0.4% in August, beating analysts' estimates. The increase was driven by an increase in vehicle sales, which climbed 1.8%. Personal income was up 0.1%, with wages and salaries increasing 0.2%.

China indicated it would exempt soybeans, pork and other agricultural products from retaliatory tariffs ahead of high-level U.S. trade negotiations set for Washington in early October following lower-level meetings this month. China’s move Friday followed one earlier this week exempting 16 U.S. products from the tariffs and word President Trump would delay the next round of U.S. tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods for two weeks to give negotiators room to maneuver.

China is said to be hoping to narrow the scope of the negotiations, which broke down in May over national security issues.

Chinese exports to the U.S. fell 7% last year as a result of the trade dispute, the U.S. China Business Council reported.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) rejected a $36.6 billion takeover bid from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, citing “fundamental concerns.” The deal was contingent on the LSE terminating its effort to buy financial information company Refinitive for $14.5 billion. The LSE said it was concerned about the Hong Kong exchange’s long-term future given the unrest in the territory.

The trade signals coupled with the European Central Banks decision Thursday to lower interest rates and engage in a new round of bond-buying sent global markets mostly higher Friday.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Heng Seng index closed up 0.98%, while the Nikkei 225 added 1.05% and China’s Shanghai Composite increased 0.75%.

In Europe, the London FTSE was up 0.38% at the close while the pound gained 1.02%. The German DAX was 0.47% higher and the French CAC added 0.22%.

On currency markets, the euro was up 0.1% and the British pound was up 1.3% against the dollar. The dollar index fell 0.1%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.899%, up 1.25%, while the yield on the 30-year note hit 2.37%, up 0.114%.

Crude oil futures were 0.16% lower while gold fell 0.77% and silver futures were off 3.34%.

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