S & P decreases slightly as Apple weighs and commercial tensions soothe By Reuters

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S & P 500 index ended the day down slightly on Friday, but less than 1% below its historic high, as a decline in Apple's share price helped counter the trade tensions that were taking place. Announce between China and the United States.

Vulnerable industrialists on tariffs have helped keep Dow, the blue chip, in positive territory, which has now won in eight consecutive sessions, its longest streak of victories since May 2018.

The three major US stock indexes recorded their third consecutive weekly gain, ending a week that showed signs of a thaw in the trade war between the two largest economies in the world for months.

Apple Inc. (O 🙂 was the main drag on equity averages, down 1.9% after Goldman Sachs (NYSE 🙂 lowered its price target for the iPhone maker's stock.

Beijing has announced that it will exempt some US agricultural products from new tariffs after President Donald Trump has hinted that it may be open to an interim agreement, the latest conciliation on both sides of the trade war in view next month's negotiations in Washington.

"Apple retains averages," said Peter Cardillo, chief economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. "Another factor is the strong recovery in yields (the Treasury) .The ten years have increased considerably.These two factors slow down the market and slow the enthusiasm generated by the conclusion of a trade agreement in the sector. cosmetic. "

However, higher Treasury yields had a positive effect on interest-sensitive financial services (), which rose 0.8%.

On the economic front, US retail sales rose in August to double the rate expected by analysts, according to the Commerce Department, suggesting that strong consumer spending will continue to support the longest expansion. United States economy.

"The consumer is rather smiling," Cardillo added. "With the approach of the holiday season, the consumer will likely continue to spend, which bodes well for the consumer-driven economy."

Trade fears and healthy retail sales have allowed US Treasury yields to reach several weeks highs, providing an attractive alternative for risk-averse investors.

Market participants are now turning to the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points after its monetary policy meeting next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index () rose 37.07 points, or 0.14%, to 27,219.52, the S & P 500 () lost 2.18 points, or 0.07% at 3,007.39 and the Nasdaq Composite () lost 17.75 points, or 0.22%, at 8,176.71.

Of the 11 main sectors of the S & P 500, five closed in the red, with real estate <.splrcr> suffering the greatest percentage of loss, 1.3%.

Materials () was the main percentage of winners, with a gain of 1.1%.

Broadcom Inc (O 🙂 chip maker fell 3.4% after the company missed quarterly estimates of its Thursday night business figure and said that although demand for semiconductors has probably reached the bottom, the timing of a recovery remains uncertain.

Progressive Corp. (N 🙂 fell 5.6% after the insurer reported a 36% drop in net income in August from a year earlier.

Lumber Forest Harvesters (N 🙂 plunged 13.2% after founder Thomas Sullivan told Bloomberg that he abstained from any plans to privatize the company.

Tyson Foods Inc. (N :), the largest US meat processor, grew 2.0% over the announcement of China's tariff exemption.

Falling issuance outnumbered growth on the NYSE by a ratio of 1.11 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.21 to 1 favored the advanced.

The S & P 500 has recorded 20 new highs over 52 weeks and a new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 82 new highs and 20 new lows.

The volume of US trade amounted to 6.93 billion shares, compared to the average of 6.75 billion shares of the last 20 trading days.