Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher on Friday, concluding a rollercoaster week on a positive note amid hopes that the market has absorbed the worst headlines about trade conflicts.

US equities shrugged off early weakness after China announced 125 percent tariffs on US goods in the latest tit-for-tat move between the two superpowers.

Despite that escalation, traders hope "that we're going to pivot from the phase of escalation to negotiation and hopefully further down the road to de-escalation," said Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones.

Potentially "a lot of bad news is in the price already," he added.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished at 5,353.36, up 1.8 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 1.6 percent to 40,212.71, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.1 percent to 16,724,46.

US equities this week have gyrated as markets digest President Trump's shifting announcements on tariffs and the evolving stance of other parties, including the European Union, which unveiled and then paused countermeasures earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, economists point to a rising risk of a US recession amid worries about inflation. On Friday, a survey from the University of Michigan noted a sharp drop in consumer confidence, and flagged a worrying rise in both short-term and longer-term inflation expectations.

Investors are also turning attention to quarterly earnings season, which began in earnest on Friday with large banks and financial players.

JPMorgan Chase surged 4.0 percent following better than expected results, while BlackRock gained 2.3 percent and Morgan Stanley rose 1.4 percent. Wells Fargo lost 1.0 percent. (AFP)