Wall Street opens mixed as US-China trade talks | Australian Markets

Wall Street’s primary indexes are mixed as traders watch a contemporary spherical of US-China negotiations aimed toward mending a trade rift that has rattled financial markets for a lot of the yr.

Top officers from each nations have kicked off discussions at London’s Lancaster House, seeking to tackle disagreements round a preliminary trade settlement struck final month that had briefly cooled tensions between the world’s largest economies.

The assembly, which might run into Tuesday, comes 4 days after US President Donald Trump and Chinese chief Xi Jinping spoke by telephone, their first direct interplay since Trump’s January 20 inauguration.

The leaders had, nevertheless, left key points unresolved.

“The talks will have to go on for some time before we decide whether or not there’s actual progress being made. However, most investors remain hopeful that there will be some positive results,” mentioned Peter Andersen, founder at Andersen Capital Management.

White House financial adviser Kevin Hassett advised CNBC in an interview on Monday the US trade negotiators are searching for a handshake in London to seal an settlement struck by Trump and Xi to permit the export of China’s uncommon earth minerals and magnets to the United States.

Hopes of more trade offers between the US and its main trading companions, together with upbeat earnings and tame inflation information, helped US equities rally in May, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq notching their best month-to-month features since November 2023.

The S&P 500 stays a little more than 2.0 per cent under all-time highs touched in February whereas the Nasdaq is about 3.0 per cent under its document peaks reached in December.

Major information releases this week embody readings on May client costs and initial jobless claims.

While traders extensively anticipate the Federal Reserve to keep rates of interest unchanged subsequent week, focus shall be on any indicators of pick-up in inflation as Trump’s tariffs risk raising price pressures.

In early trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 129.75 factors, or 0.30 per cent, to 42,633.12, the S&P 500 misplaced 0.32 factors, or 0.01 per cent, to six,000.04 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 44.81 factors, or 0.23 per cent, to 19,574.76.

Seven of the 11 main S&P 500 sub-sectors fell, with healthcare stocks, down 0.6 per cent, declining probably the most.

On the flip facet, data technology stocks superior 0.6 per cent.

Most megacap and growth stocks had been mixed.

Tesla shares edged 0.5 per cent decrease after brokerage Baird downgraded the stock to “neutral”.

Nvidia gained 1.3 per cent.

Warner Bros Discovery shares jumped 9.5 per cent, probably the most on the S&P 500, after the company mentioned it might separate its studios and streaming business from its fading cable tv networks.

Robinhood Markets fell 7.4 per cent after S&P Dow Jones Indices left S&P 500 constituents unchanged in its latest rebalancing, following current hypothesis that the online brokerage can be added to the benchmark index.

Merck rose 1.1 per cent after the drug maker’s oral ldl cholesterol capsule succeeded in two late-stage research.

Advancing points outnumbered decliners by a 1.65-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and one new low whereas the Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 27 new lows.