The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that North American stock markets advanced on Wednesday on revived hopes for progress in the U.S.-China trade dispute and as President Donald Trump soothed fears with reassurances that he has "no intention of firing" Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that all three major U.S. stock indexes, as well as the S&P/TSX Composite Index, pared gains by the closing bell. They gathered momentum during the session after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said high tariffs between the U.S. and China were unsustainable and Mr. Trump signalled he was open to easing trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. First-quarter earnings season has hit full stride, with 110 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 75 per cent have beaten Wall Street estimates, according to LSEG. Analysts now see aggregate S&P 500 earnings growth of 8.4 per cent for the January-to-March period. The Toronto Stock Exchange ended up 166.70 points at 24,472.68. The technology sector climbed 3.3 per cent. Industrials and heavily weighted financials both ended higher. Energy was a drag, falling on lower oil prices.