Stock Market Today: How US Shares Performed On Columbus Day As China Trade Deal Euphoria Fades

Stocks drifted up and down in a narrow range Monday as euphoria over a phase 1 deal to resolve the U.S.-China trade dispute gave way to relatively unenthusiastic statements from Beijing and indications China’s economy was slowing further.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 30 points to 26,786. The Nasdaq Composite was off 8 points to 8,048 while the S&P 500 dipped 4 points to 2,966.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 1.9 billion shares with 1,280 issues advancing ande 1,646 declining. Sixty-six issues hit new highs and 45 hit new lows.

Leading the most actives were Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Synthesis Energy System (SES) and Infosys Ltd. ADR (INFY).

The U.S. bond market was closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

Uber (UBER) announced it would lay off 350 employees and asked others to relocate in the “last wave” of a reorganization.

Sears (SHLDQ ) reportedly plans to close 100 more stores by the end of the year in its bid to return to profitability. Sears filed for bankruptcy nearly a year ago and currently operates 425 Sears and Kmart outlets.

U.S. and Chinese negotiators reached a preliminary handshake agreement at the end of two days of talks Friday. The deal involves Chinese agreement to buy more agriculture products and the U.S. to hold off on tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods that had been scheduled to kick in Tuesday but a written pact that could be signed by President Trump and his Chinese counterpart at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile is still weeks away.

China said Monday it wants more negotiations before the end of the month to iron out details, snuffing the Friday rally that saw a 300-point runup on the Dow.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin noted Dec. 15 tariffs are still on the table and could take effect as scheduled if no deal is signed next month.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said the two sides had made “substantial progress” and agreed to work together to resolve the conflict. The official Xinhua news agency said last week’s talks managed not to escalate the trade dispute further but there were still many issues that needed to be resolved.

The deal did not address the big issues at the heart of the 18-month-old U.S.-China trade war, including industrial subsidies and cybertheft.

The General Administration of Customs reported Monday imports from the U.S. to China have fallen 5%, totaling $1.55 trillion, since the beginning of the year, with sharp drops in purchases of aircraft, soybeans and LED screens. In September alone, imports were down 8.5%. Imports from Japan and South Korea also were significantly lower, down 7.5% and 17.8%, respectively.

In Europe, British and European Union negotiators were unlikely to reach agreement ahead of Thursday's EU Council meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, who holds the rotating EU presidency, saying more time is needed. The United Kingdom faces an Oct. 31 deadline to exit the economic alliance.

On global markets, Asian stocks closed higher while European stocks were lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.81% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.15% and China’s Shanghai Composite added 1.15%. Australia’s S&P/ASX gained 0.54%.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.46%, while the German DAX was off 0.2% and the French CAC 40 was off 0.4%. The Stoxx 600 was off 0.52%.

The British pound was off 0.97 cent to $1.2551 while the euro lost 0.13 cent to $1.1025. The dollar index was up 0.22%.

Oil futures were lower. Crude oil gave up $1.24, falling to $53.47 a barrel, while Brent crude was off 14 cents to $59.21. Gold futures gained $7.40 to 1,496 an ounce while silver futures gained 13 cents to $17.67 an ounce.