The US markets ended mostly in green on Monday after a choppy session as new round of US-China trade talks in Beijing commenced. The latest round of trade negotiations between the US and China began Monday with working-level talks in Beijing, while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are due to arrive Thursday for more high-level discussions. Even if tariffs on Chinese goods remain at 10% beyond next month’s deadline, as some reports have suggested, the lingering uncertainty around a trade resolution would only highlight that a 12-month-long negotiation between the world’s largest economies has failed to yield any tangible results.
Meanwhile, investors are also preparing for another potential government closure after talks broke down between the main parties over whether to limit the number of migrants authorities can detain. The White House has not ruled out another shutdown if a border-security compromise cannot be reached by midnight Friday. Beside, a lack of major US economic data also kept traders on the sidelines, although reports on consumer and producer price inflation, import and export prices and industrial production are likely to attract attention in the coming days.
S&P 500 gained 1.92 points or 0.07 percent to 2709.80 and Nasdaq was up by 9.71 points or 0.13 percent to 7307.90, while Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 53.22 points or 0.21 percent to 25053.11.
