Wall Street’s main indexes were mixed on Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of ongoing trade talks between the United States and China aimed at cooling a tariff dispute that has bruised global markets this year.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said trade talks with China were going well as officials from the two sides met for a second day in London.
Investors are hoping for an improvement in ties after the relief around a preliminary deal struck last month gave way to fresh doubts when Washington accused Beijing of blocking exports critical to sectors such as aerospace, semiconductors and defense.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday the U.S. was likely to agree to lift export controls on some semiconductors in return for China speeding up the delivery of rare earths.
“I think these issues will be resolved, but I think it’s still early days … but the fact that they’re talking certainly is positive,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial.
“We’re not making progress yards at a time, but inches at a time.”
At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.22 points, or 0.05%, to 42,742.88, the S&P 500 gained 10.30 points, or 0.17%, to 6,016.18 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 53.92 points, or 0.28%, to 19,645.16.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-sectors rose, led by energy with a 1.7% gain, tracking strength in oil prices. Communication services stocks added 0.9%.
Wall Street mixed with focus on US-China trade talks
U.S. equities rallied sharply in May, with the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq marking their best monthly gains since November 2023, helped by upbeat earnings reports and a softening of President Donald Trump’s harsh trade stance.
The S&P 500 remains about 2% below all-time highs touched in February, while the Nasdaq is about 2.6% below its record peaks reached in December.
Investors are awaiting U.S. consumer prices data on Wednesday for clues on the Federal Reserve’s rate trajectory.
The World Bank slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by 0.4 percentage point to 2.3%, saying higher tariffs and heightened uncertainty posed a “significant headwind” for nearly all economies.
Shares of McDonald’s fell 1.4%, weighing on the blue-chip Dow Index, after a report Redburn Atlantic downgraded the fast-food giant to “sell” from “buy”.
Most megacap and growth stocks were mixed. Tesla shares advanced 2.6%.
Insmed shares jumped 27.7% after the drugmaker said its experimental drug significantly reduced blood pressure in the lungs and improved exercise capacity in patients in a mid-stage study.
U.S.-listed shares of Tencent Music Entertainment Group advanced 2.2% after the Chinese company said it would buy domestic long-form audio platform Ximalaya for about $2.4 billion in cash and stock.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.52-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.76-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 7 new 52-week highs and one new low while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 42 new highs and 29 new lows.
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