S & P 500 erases losses after Mnuchin comments on US-China trade



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By April Joyner

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S & P 500 erased its initial losses on Friday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US-China trade talks were "constructive," but The index has remained on the way to its biggest weekly loss since December.

The benchmark dropped to 1.6%, but rebounded after the lows of the session after Mnuchin's comments. Earlier, stocks collapsed after US President Donald Trump declared he was "in no hurry" to sign an agreement while higher tariffs on 200 billion dollars of Chinese goods had entered into force.

US stocks were beaten this week as the White House imposed additional tariffs on Chinese products. Recent developments in trade negotiations between the United States and China have prompted investors to prepare for an extension and eventual escalation of the trade dispute between the two largest economies in the world. In turn, this fueled fears of a global economic slowdown, resulting in a flight to low-risk assets such as government bonds. As a result, the S & P 500 fell 2.5% for the week.

Nevertheless, the continuation of negotiations between Washington and Beijing has allowed some investors to keep their hopes.

"The market does not take into account the increased trade tensions but takes into account ongoing discussions," said Anthony Saglimbene, global market strategist at Ameriprise. "The baseline scenario for the market continues to be the conclusion of an agreement, which is why we have not seen it sell more aggressively today."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55.72 points, or 0.22%, to 25,884.08, the S & P 500 gained 4.1 points, or 0.14%, to 2,874.82 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 8.10 points, or 0.1%, to 7,902.49.

Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. fell 2.8% after opening below their initial market opening price, long overdue on the market.

Shares of Symantec Corp plunged 12.1% after the antivirus maker issued a profit warning and unexpectedly announced that its general manager would pull out.

Flea makers, who derive a large portion of their income from China, declined slightly to prolong their decline. The Philadelphia semiconductor index has dropped more than 6% this week.

Increasing issues outnumbered declining issues at the NYSE with a ratio of 1.28 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.10 to 1 favored the decline.

The S & P 500 recorded 11 new highs over 52 weeks and 12 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 46 new highs and 100 new lows.

(Report by April Joyner, additional report by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru, edited by Sriraj Kalluvila and Jonathan Oatis)

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