US close: Wall Street loses grip on gains after trade talks reportedly 'stall'
Shares on Wall Street fell back during the last hour of trading after it was reported that trade talks with Beijing appeared to have stalled.
Deere & Co.
$395.08
04:50 26/04/24
According to a sourced report from CNBC, scheduling for the next round of negotiations between the US and China was "in flux" because it was unclear what the two sides would negotiate.
Overnight, the People's Daily - considered by many to be the Chinese government's mouthpiece - had run an article saying that there was no reason to continue talks without a show of sincerity on the part of Washington.
In a somewhat volatile day of trading that saw the major market averages start lower, push higher and then finally lose their grip on earlier gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38% at 25,764.0, while the S&P 500 lost 0.58% to 2,859.53 alongside a retreat on the Nasdaq Composite of 1.04% that took it to 7,816.28.
For the week as a whole, the S&P 500 gave back 21.87 points.
Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was flat at 2.39% but eight basis points lower for the week, with Fed funds futures left pricing in roughly 73% odds of a quarter point cut in official short-term interest rates by the end of 2019.
Also before the start of trading in New York, a spokesman for the Chinese commerce ministry, Gao Feng, said American officials accused the US of ratcheting up the pressure on the country, saying that it had "seriously hurt" talks.
The spokesman further indicated that he had no information regarding visits by any US officials for talks.
However, trade fears were partially curbed on Friday after the White House revealed it would delay applying tariffs on foreign-made cars by six months and later announced that a deal had been reached to lift tariffs on aluminium and steel imports from Canada and Mexico.
Presciently, before the opening bell, Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said the "bizarre week" for markets was likely to end on a negative note, a sign that investors still weren't feeling particularly comfortable despite a three-day winning streak.
Over the past few sessions, Trump had succeeded in calming investor fears by claiming the breakdown in talks was nothing more than a "little squabble" between the world's two largest economies, but Erlam was left wondering whether Wall Street's descent into the red at the bell was a sign that investors weren't "entirely convinced."
Trade uncertainty was also reflected in the latest economic data - if one looked closely enough - and company results.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbed to a reading of 102.4 in May, a 15-year high, which was up from April's figure of 97.2 and ahead of the 97.1 expected on the Street as a tight jobs market helped fuel confidence throughout the month.
However, the bulk of the improvement in sentiment occurred before the trade negotiations with the People's Republic of China collapsed and Beijing responded with its own tariffs, UofM survey director, Richard Curtin said.
Indeed, in early May "unaided" references to tariffs hit their peak in July 2018 - when they were first imposed - but had generally declined to only 16%.
"To be sure, negative references to tariffs rose in the past week and are likely to rise further in late May and June," Curtin said.
On the corporate front, shares of agricultural equipment maker Deere&Co. skidded 7.65% lower despite its second-quarter results revealing an uptick in sales, while
Stock in chip-maker Nvidia dropped 2.28% following the release of its second-quarter earnings and after its boss, Samuel Allen, said worries about their ability to tap markets overseas is "causing farmers to become much more cautious about making major purchases."
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