On April 9, with the stock market enduring a mini-crash, Donald Trump placed a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for all countries save China. This 90-day pause is what ignited the strongest single-day point gains in the history of the S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Among the strongest performers, Thermo Fisher Scientific rose 12%, topping the leaderboard for large-cap stocks, followed by T-Mobile US, up 9%.

The S&P 500 and the Dow edged up in tepid trading on Friday as investors assessed President Donald Trump's latest comments on trade discussions with the European Union and his hints that a rate cut from the U.

U.S. stocks capped another strong week with more records on Friday. The S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent to set an all-time high, the fifth time this week.