Stocks Hit a Record Slightly Changing at the End of the Day

Stocks posted fresh records on Monday before the closing slightly changed as investors digested mixed signals about U.S.-China trade negotiations.

The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.1% higher at 8,549.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the trading day up just 31.33 points or 0.1% at 28,036.22. The S&P 500 advanced 0.05% to 3,122.03. Meanwhile, Disney was the best-performing Dow stock, rising about 2%. Real estate and consumer staples both gained over 0.6%.

More about Stocks and U.S.-China Trade Negotiations

Though the major averages of stocks failed to post significant gains after the report of a government source, Chinese officials are pessimistic about the development of the U.S.-China trade talks. China is concerned as President Donald Trump said the U.S. government would not roll back tariffs because they thought both sides had agreed to do so in principle.

That report followed a Chinese state media note that China and the U.S. had constructive trade talks. According to this state media, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin talked with Chinese Vice Premier Liu. The main issue during the meeting was a phase one trade agreement.

This news triggered a move into traditional safe-haven assets on stock markets. Earlier in the day, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell from about 1.85% to 1.8%.

The ‘phase one deal’ was announced last month and is expected to be signed this month. The optimism around this agreement helped spark the stock market’s rally to record highs.

Over the last month, the Dow and S&P 500 are both up over 4%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq is up 5.8% at that time. On Friday the Dow also closed above 28,000 for the first time.

A Chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth Robert Pavlik notes that the stock market has shown its resiliency. According to Pavlik, the U.S.-China trade war is still an overhang for the market.

Senior strategist at WallachBeth Capital Ilya Feygin said stocks might be getting a boost thanks to investors’ horror or missing out on the current rally.