US markets settle in red territory amid renewed uncertainty about trade deal

01 Nov 2019 Evaluate

The US markets settled in red territory on Thursday amid renewed uncertainty about the potential for a long-term US-China trade deal. Optimism about phase one of a trade deal contributed to recent strength on Wall Street, but a new report stated that Chinese officials are casting doubts about reaching a comprehensive long-term trade agreement. As per a report, Chinese officials have warned in private conversations that they are unwilling to budge on the thorniest issues. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had been due to meet and potentially sign the deal at the APEC summit in Chile, but the Chilean President recently called off the summit due to unrest in the country. However, upbeat earnings capped the losses in markets, with Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB) posting notable gains after reporting better than expected quarterly results.

On the US economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest increase in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended October 26. The report said initial jobless claims rose to 218,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 213,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 212,000 originally reported for the previous week. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed personal income and spending both increased in line with market participants estimates in the month of September. The report said personal income increased by 0.3 percent in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in August. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said personal spending edged up by 0.2 percent, matching the revised uptick seen in August.

Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 140.46 points or 0.52 percent to 27046.23, Nasdaq fell 11.61 points or 0.14 percent to 8292.36 and S&P 500 was down by 9.21 points or 0.30 percent to 3037.56.

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