U.S. Stocks Inch Up in Quiet Session
October 14 2019 - 2:50PM
Dow Jones News
By Caitlin Ostroff and Akane Otani
U.S. stocks drifted between small gains and losses Monday, kept
in a narrow range by thin trading volumes, ahead of the start of
third-quarter earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20 points, or 0.1%, to
26836. The S&P 500 was down less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq
Composite rose less than 0.1%.
Markets were quiet Monday with many banks and fixed-income desks
shut in observance of Columbus Day. When regular trading activity
resumes Tuesday, analysts say the focus will shift to earnings
reports from companies including Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup,
as well as developments on the U.S.-China trade front.
Signs of progress between the two countries had helped stocks
rally at the end of last week. Yet many investors have noted that
details on key issues like intellectual property have remained
elusive, and that a deal may still collapse. Adding to investors'
skepticism, state-run publications in China have had a much more
measured tone in describing the two countries' preliminary
agreement, analysts said.
"At the end of the day, all that happened on Friday was the
tariffs were postponed," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst
at CMC Markets. The U.S. is still poised to impose an additional
round of tariffs starting mid-December.
U.S. crude oil fell 2.4% to $53.38 a barrel, with some analysts
attributing the declines to waning hopes for a solid U.S.-China
trade deal.
That put pressure on some energy shares, with Cimarex Energy
losing 1.3% and Devon Energy falling 1.9%.
Meanwhile, corporate news drove some swings among individual
stocks.
General Motors lost 0.4% after the United Auto Workers union
said it was increasing its weekly payout to workers on strike,
suggesting it was preparing to extend a nearly monthlong
walkout.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5%, while the pound
weakened against the dollar.
The weekend of talks between European Union and British
negotiators, who face a deadline this week to reach a deal on
Brexit, failed to yield a breakthrough. Diplomats said even the
outline of a deal looked difficult to clinch, given the gap between
the sides and the complexity of the issues.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.5%.
Adding to global growth concerns, Chinese trade data released
Monday showed further declines in the country's exports in
September, largely as a result of the trade dispute.
Still, stocks in Asia, which ended trade Friday before President
Trump said the U.S. and China had completed the early stages of a
deal, rallied Monday. The Shanghai Composite gauge advanced 1.2%,
while the benchmark Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose 0.8%.
Joanne Chiu contributed to this article
Write to Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com and Akane
Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 14, 2019 14:35 ET (18:35 GMT)
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