Monday's Stock Market Close: US Equities Finish Flat As Traders Seek Signs Of Progress On New China Trade Deal

U.S. stocks finished essentially flat on a lack of any definitive news on a new phase 1 trade deal with China.

Traders likely anticipated some progress on the China front on news that during the weekend, China’s Vice Premier Liu He spoke with Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and characterized the talks as “constructive.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31.2 points to 28,036.09 while the S&P 500 edged up about 1.55 points to 3,122.01 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 9.11 points to 8,549.94.

“The situation is very fluid, and with the market at all-time highs, that gives President Trump more confidence to take a hard line with China,” Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist with Ally Invest, told MarketWatch. “Over the past year-and-a-half, when the market reaches a new peak, trade is usually what causes us to take a leg down.”

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said she was opposed to the central bank’s quarter-point rate cuts, but added she’s happy to see how the easing impacts the economy.

“I would have preferred that we just hold the interest rate where it was and wait for more signs the economy was slowing down more than anticipated,” Mester said at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Mark Mobius, founder of Mobius Capital Partners, told Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade, he expects the Dow to reach the 30,000 level soon. “If you look at the incredible U.S. economy and how well it had done, it’s certainly reflective of what is happening in the stock market,” he said. “What the stock market is telling us is that the economy will continue to do well. Barring any major incident in the administration and assuming that Trump stays in the presidency I think the stock market will do very well and the economy will do well.”

The National Association of Home Builders said on Monday that the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index edged down to 70 in November after climbing to 71 in the prior month. Economists had expected no change in the index

MedMen Enterprises (MMNFF) plunged almost 22% on news of job cuts and planned asset sales.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 2.86 billion shares with 1,234 issues advancing, 114 setting new highs, and 1,734 declining, with 77 setting new lows.

Active movers were led by Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX), Standard Diversified (SDI), AudioEye (AEYE) Capstone Turbine (CPST) and Cellcom Israel (CEL)

Overnight in Asia, markets closed broadly higher with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 1.35%, China's Shanghai Composite climbing 0.62% and Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.49%.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.07% while the German DAX fell 0.26% and the French CAC 40 dropped 0.16%.

Crude oil futures were down 0.92% to $56.80 per barrel and Brent crude closed down 0.45% to $62.16. Gold futures were up 0.25%.

The euro was up 0.21% to $1.1076 while the pound sterling has climbed 0.4% to $1.2953.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 1.42% to 1.808% while yield on the 30-year Treasury slipped 0.78% to 2.2930%.