By Alexander Osipovich

Major U.S. stock indexes were mixed on Wednesday as investors waited for developments on a trade deal with China.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 25.25 points, or 0.3%, to close at 7909.97. The S&P 500 fell 3.60 points, or 0.1%, to 2913.78, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 11.40 points, or less than 0.1%, to 26536.82.

Stocks got a morning boost after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview that there was "a path to complete" a trade deal between the U.S. and China. He also said that a deal had previously been "about 90%" done.

But the market later retreated. The muted reaction to Mr. Mnuchin's remarks shows investors are awaiting tangible results from the talks, said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors. "It's hard to take too much out of his comments," Mr. Arone said. "There's a bit of posturing ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting."

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet at the G-20 summit in Japan later this week, in what is seen by analysts as an important moment in the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Trade-sensitive semiconductor stocks helped lift the Nasdaq. Micron Technology soared 13% to $37.04 after the memory-chip maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results after Tuesday's close. The company also said it had resumed shipments to Huawei after determining they didn't run afoul of U.S. curbs on exports to the Chinese telecom giant.

Energy stocks were the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, boosted by a jump in the price of oil. Benchmark U.S. crude oil futures rose 2.7% to $59.38 a barrel, their highest level in over a month, after government data showed a steeper-than-expected drop in inventories.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.049%, rebounding from a recent slide. Bond yields rise as prices fall.

Investors have also been focused on the prospects of a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut. President Trump slammed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday, a day after the central bank chief signaled his independence from the White House, saying the Fed would ease monetary policy only if data showed a sustained downward trend in the U.S. economy.

"He's not doing a good job," Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network. "He has to lower interest rates for us to compete with China."

New Commerce Department data showed that demand for long-lasting goods produced by U.S. factories decreased in May for the third time in four months, underscoring a broader slowdown in U.S. manufacturing. Expectations that a weakening economy would spur the Fed to cut rates have driven stocks higher over the past months.

Bitcoin extended its meteoric rise, rising above $13,000 for the first time since January 2018. The cryptocurrency has rallied since Facebook said last week it planned to launch its own digital currency. Bitcoin was recently trading at $13,641.92, more than triple its price at the start of the year.

Gold fell 0.2% to $1,411.60 a troy ounce, reversing a four-day rally that had lifted the price of the precious metal to its highest level since 2013.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3%. Asian markets were slightly lower or close to flat, with Japan's Nikkei posting the largest decline of 0.5%.

Will Horner contributed to this article

Write to Alexander Osipovich at alexander.osipovich@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2019 16:45 ET (20:45 GMT)

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