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• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 181.92 points, or 0.75 percent, to 24,356.74, the S&P 500 gained 23.39 points, or 0.86 percent, to 2,736.61 and the Nasdaq Composite added 83.75 points, or 1.12 percent, to 7,586.43.

Wall Street’s major indexes rose on Thursday as reports that the United States and the European Union may agree to withdraw auto tariffs fostered optimism on international trade relations among investors.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would back lowering EU tariffs on U.S. car imports. An industry source told Reuters that the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, had mentioned to German auto executives that U.S. President Donald Trump could abandon threatened tariffs on imported European cars if in return the European Union scrapped duties on U.S. cars.

• Asian stocks rose on the last trading day of the week, taking cues from Wall Street's overnight advance. Meanwhile, investors braced for developments on the trade front as markets awaited tariffs from the U.S. and China to take effect later on Friday.

The Nikkei 225 rose 0.81 percent in Tokyo as most sectors rebounded after the benchmark's three consecutive sessions of declines. Automakers rose 1.37 percent as major automakers gained, with Toyota Motor up 1.75 percent. Shippers and bank stocks also climbed, with the respective Topix sectors up more than 1 percent.

Other markets in the region saw slimmer gains. South Korea's Kospi edged up by 0.15 percent and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2 percent.

• After a tense lead-up to the July 6 deadline for U.S. and China tariffs to take effect, markets will be watching for potential developments on the trade front. U.S. tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods from 818 product categories that are set to take effect at 12:01 p.m. HK/SIN. China has announced retaliatory duties on the same value of U.S. products, also expected to kick in on Friday.

• Trump on Thursday said an additional $16 billion of Chinese products will be subject to tariffs in two weeks, also adding that he was considering more duties on $500 billion in Chinese goods.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC