(Updates with afternoon trading)

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Trump says 100% tariffs on China not sustainable

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Eli Lilly ( LLY ) falls after Trump vows weight-loss drug price

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S&P 500 +0.44%, Nasdaq +0.42%, Dow +0.55%

By Noel Randewich and Twesha Dikshit

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Friday as

investors assessed U.S. President Donald Trump's latest remarks

on China, while quarterly results from regional banks eased

concerns about credit risks.

Trump said his proposed 100% tariff on goods from China would

not be sustainable, but blamed Beijing for the latest impasse in

trade talks that began with Chinese authorities tightening

control over rare earth exports. Trump unveiled the new tariffs

a week ago, along with new export controls on "any and all

critical software," to go into effect on November 1.

"The market doesn't really know what to take when Donald

Trump speaks," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at

Dakota Wealth. "There's just a lot of back-and-forth comments

with regards to China and trade tariffs and pretty much

everything else."

Regional bank stocks rebounded following a selloff on

Thursday, when Zions Bancorporation disclosed losses

tied to two commercial and industrial loans and Western Alliance

revealed it had initiated a lawsuit alleging fraud by

Cantor Group V, LLC.

"There's a lot more bark than bite on the credit fears,"

said Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital.

"Looking through all the big banks' results, credit is very

good. Overall, there are very few pockets of weakness."

Truist Financial ( TFC ) gained 4%, after the bank reported

higher third-quarter profit. Fifth Third Bancorp ( FITB ) rose

1.7%. Zions shares regained 3.8%, while Western Alliance

advanced 2.4%.

The S&P Composite 1500 Regional Banks index

climbed 1.5% after tumbling almost 6% the day before.

The S&P 500 financial sector index, which includes

the largest U.S. banks, rose 0.8%.

Robust earnings from big JPMorgan ( JPM ) and other big

banks this week helped get the third-quarter earnings season off

to an upbeat start. Analysts on average see S&P 500 earnings

climbing 9.3% in the third quarter, an improvement from

expectations of 8.8% at the start of October, according to LSEG

I/B/E/S.

Following a nearly 14% gain in 2025, the S&P 500 is valued

at 23 times expected earnings, its priciest level in five years.

The S&P 500 was last up 0.44% at 6,658.35 points.

The Nasdaq gained 0.42% to 22,656.52 points, while the Dow

Jones Industrial Average was up 0.55% at 46,205.94 points.

Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by consumer

staples, up 1.06%, followed by a 0.85% gain in

financials.

The three main U.S. indexes were on track to register weekly

gains.

The CBOE volatility index, investors' fear gauge,

dropped to 23.3 points, after hitting its highest level in

nearly six months at 28.99 earlier in the day.

Wall Street's most valuable companies were mixed, with Tesla

and Apple ( AAPL ) rising over 1% each, and Amazon ( AMZN )

falling about 1%.

Eli Lilly ( LLY ) fell about 3% after Trump said he would bring

down prices of weight-loss drugs.

State Street dropped 3% after the bank's third-quarter

net interest income missed estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500

by a 1.6-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 6 new highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq

recorded 30 new highs and 105 new lows.