Bull run in US markets could stick around a while longer

US STOCKS rose for the ninth straight week as optimism about a trade deal eclipsed another round of disappointing economic data.

That upward momentum could carry through to this week, unless there are spoilers from special investigator Robert Mueller, trade negotiators or retail earnings.

In one good sign for global growth and the stock market, China's top trade representative extended a visit to Washington so that talks to end the trade war could continue. To quote the late former British prime minister Winston Churchill, "to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war".