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Donald Trump was to campaign Friday in a safe Republican state as Kamala Harris barnstorms the battlegrounds likely to decide November's election, carried by surge in momentum that has left her opponent scrambling.

US stocks closed higher on Friday, capping off their strongest weekly percentage gains of the year as fears of an economic downturn subsided, and investor attention shifted to the upcoming Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both secured their seventh consecutive session of gains, rebounding from a sharp sell-off two weeks ago that had driven the Nasdaq into correction territory, spurred by weak economic data and heightened recession concerns.

All three major indexes achieved their largest weekly percentage gains since late October, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq breaking a four-week losing streak. This week's slew of key economic reports, including the Labor Department's consumer price index and a retail sales report from the Commerce Department, provided reassurance that inflation is gradually trending toward the Federal Reserve's 2% target, and that consumer spending remains robust.

Data released on Friday showed US single-family housing starts had fallen to a nearly 1.5-year low in July, while the University of Michigan's preliminary August consumer sentiment index unexpectedly improved.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, in an interview with National Public Radio, cautioned that central bank officials should be careful not to maintain restrictive monetary policy longer than necessary. Financial markets are currently pricing in a 74.5% chance that the Fed will cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points at its September meeting, with a 25.5% probability of a larger 50-basis-point cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 96.7 points, or 0.24%, to close at 40,659.76. The S&P 500 gained 11.03 points, or 0.20%, to finish at 5,554.25, and the Nasdaq Composite added 37.22 points, or 0.21%, to end at 17,631.72. Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, financials saw the largest percentage gains, while industrials experienced the biggest decline.

Applied Materials dropped 1.9%, reversing its earlier gains after the chip-making equipment firm projected stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue. Meanwhile, Amcor reported a larger-than-expected decline in fourth-quarter sales, leading to a 3.7% drop in its US-listed shares.

On the NYSE, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a ratio of 2.22-to-1, while on the Nasdaq, a 1.53-to-1 ratio favored advancers. The S&P 500 recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite saw 66 new highs and 85 new lows. Trading volume on US exchanges reached 10.11 billion shares, below the 20-day average of 12.27 billion.