Investors want trade deals, but the state of negotiations remains fragile. Much of the good news appears to be already reflected in the stock market.

Stocks closed higher Thursday as Wall Street cheered encouraging tariff news. Indeed, today's reports of a trade deal between the U.S. and the U.K. boosted expectations ahead of this weekend's negotiations with China.

It felt much longer, but the U.S. stock market needed just a few weeks to roar all the way back to where it was on President Donald Trump's “Liberation Day.” That's when he shocked Wall Street by announcing much steeper tariffs than expected on nearly all U.