Wall Street dips on trade uncertainty ahead of G20 Summit
(Reuters) – U.S. stocks dipped in choppy trading on Thursday as uncertainty over the outcome of a high-stakes meeting between the United States and China at the upcoming G20 Summit kept investors on edge.
President Donald Trump sent conflicting signals on a potential trade deal with China after he said Washington was close to making a deal but is not sure he wants to do it and likes where things stand now.
Adding to woes, a source told Reuters that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has advocated a tough stance against China, would be attending the summit.
“Investors are more skittish than they should be. They listen to the headline news, and it has caused them to sell stocks,” said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager with Hodges Funds, in Dallas, Texas.
“Trump may not want a trade deal and that causes things to selloff. You are also giving back something from yesterday’s big gain.”
Wall Street’s main indexes rallied to close more than 2 percent higher on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish comments eased concerns about faster pace of monetary tightening.
The benchmark U.S. government 10-year yield US10YT=RR was below the psychologically significant 3 percent level for the first time since Sept. 18.
The rate-sensitive financial sector .SPSY fell 0.72 percent, with the KBW Bank index .BKX down 0.81 percent.
Big U.S. lenders JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) fell between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent.
The Fed is set to release its minutes from its Nov. 7-8 policy meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET, which could offer more clues on the path of future rate hikes.
At 12:52 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 48.47 points, or 0.19 percent, at 25,317.96, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 3.77 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,740.02 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 12.89 points, or 0.18 percent, at 7,278.70.
The technology sector .SPLRCT fell 0.83 percent, weighed down by a 1 percent fall in heavyweights Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Microsoft Corp MSFT.
The energy index .SPNY gained 0.65 percent, the most among the five S&P sectors trading higher, lifted by a rise in crude oil prices.
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR.O) rose 5.3 percent, the most on the S&P 500, after the discount store said tariffs will have minimal impact to its operations this year.
McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) rose 0.9 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “overweight”, saying the fast-food chain’s store modernization efforts will pay off in 2019.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 16 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and 50 new lows.
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