US close: Dow closes lower, stretching losses into fourth straight session
US stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday as investors continued to eye trade relations between the US and China and considered the prospect of yet another government shutdown due to Trump's insistence that his border wall be funded.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.21% at 25,053.11, while the S&P 500 moved ahead 0.07% to 2,709.80 and the Nasdaq traded 0.13% firmer at 7,307.90.
The Dow recorded a four-day losing streak on Monday, closing 53 points lower on Monday with Sino-US relations remaining in focus as discussions between the two nations were set to continue later in the week when US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will head off to Beijing for the next stage of talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Thursday and Friday.
Elsewhere, Trump lambasted Democrats over border-security talks on Monday, calling the opposition party "crazy" ahead of a new round of bipartisan talks which will focus on limiting the number of beds and funding levels for barriers.
"The Democrats do not want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens!" Trump tweeted.
"This is a brand new demand. Crazy!"
As the end of the three-week spending introduced on 25 January approaches, Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "With the blame for the previous shutdown having been levied at the President, the Democrats will likely feel comfortable seeing this through. Trump has been very good at the PR side of politics previously but this may be a challenge too far."
Oil prices managed to pare some losses before the close but still hit a two-week low, with West Texas Intermediate falling 0.6% to $52.41 per barrel, while Brent Crude dropped 0.97% to $61.51.
The USD gained 0.65% against the GBP to 0.7776.
In corporate news, Morgan Stanley closed 1.49% lower after agreeing to buy Canada's Solium Capital - a provider of software-as-a-service for equity administration, financial reporting and compliance - for around $900m in cash.
Irish-American industrial manufacturing group Ingersoll-Rand picked up 0.60% in the session after it agreed to buy Precision Flow Systems for $1.45bn.
Elsewhere, shares in Burger King parent Restaurant Brands closed 1.40% lower after the release of its fourth-quarter earnings, while video games developer Electronic Arts dipped 0.37%, shaking off some of Friday's surge.