U.S. Stocks Tick Higher in Quiet Session -- Update
November 18 2019 - 4:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Caitlin Ostroff and Akane Otani
Stocks drifted higher in a quiet session Monday, sending the Dow
Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite to
another trio of closing records.
With few major economic and earnings reports on the calendar
Monday, the stock market's moves were relatively muted.
The blue-chip average finished up 31.33 points, or 0.1%, to
28036.22, building on gains after rounding out its sixth
consecutive weekly advance on Friday. The S&P 500 added 1.57
point, or 0.1%, to 3122.03, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 9.11
points, or 0.1%, to 8549.94.
Energy shares were among the bigger movers. Halliburton and
Marathon Oil both lost more than 1.5%, following U.S. crude oil
prices lower.
Meanwhile, shares of Xerox Holdings rose 36 cents, or 0.9%, to
$39.30 to erase earlier declines after PC and printer maker HP
rejected a $33 billion takeover offer. Estée Lauder added $1.90, or
1%, to $192.89 after the beauty-products brand agreed to acquire
Seoul-based Have & Be to expand its reach in the Asia-Pacific
region.
Later this week, investors say they will be looking out for
minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, as well
as fresh data on consumer confidence and the manufacturing
sector.
Stocks around the world have managed to push out double-digit
gains this year, thanks in part to an easing of monetary policy by
central banks, and more recently, signs that trade tensions between
the U.S. and China are de-escalating.
China's state media Xinhua reported that senior officials from
both nations had "constructive discussions" on Saturday morning
regarding each other's concerns about a "phase one" deal.
Still, many investors say they are skeptical the two countries
are close to a full resolution of their trade conflict. Talks
between the world's two largest economies have hit snags in recent
weeks over China's reluctance to commit to specific targets for
purchases of U.S. agricultural goods, as well as Beijing's concerns
about President Trump's willingness to lift existing tariffs.
"The key to everything we're seeing at the moment is the
perception of uncertainty among investors," said Dan Kemp, chief
investment officer for Morningstar Investment Management in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa. "At the moment, we are living through a
period where that uncertainty is very visible."
Over in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.4%, while
the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.6%. China's central bank on
Monday lowered its regular reverse repurchase rate for the first
time since October 2015 in an effort to boost market confidence and
bolster economic growth.
The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 index ticked down less than
0.1%, with the real estate and utilities sectors among the
best-performing groups for the day.
Write to Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com and Akane
Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2019 16:35 ET (21:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.