Tuesday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Open Lower On Final Day Of 2019 Trading

U.S. stocks traded lower in light trading on Tuesday as traders either remained on the sidelines or took profits from recent gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 50.61 points to 28,411.53 while the S&P 500 fell 5.78 points to 3,215.51 and the Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 3.22 points to 8942.77.

Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that the phase one trade deal with China will be signed on January 15 at a ceremony at the White House. Later, he said he will fly to Beijing to begin talks on phase two.

Earlier Tuesday, White House advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC that trade deal with China has got great stuff in it. It’s got essentially the same chapter we had in the May deal that the Chinese walked away from on intellectual property theft. So that’s a good deal.”

Navarro also said that in 2020 “we’re going to try to get something going with Great Britain, Vietnam, Europe and anybody else who wants to fairly trade with the United States of America.”

Navarro is also bullish on U.S. stock markets. “It’s going to be the roaring 2020s next year,” he said. “[Dow at] 32,000 is a conservative estimate of where we’ll be at the end of the year.”

Hannah Anderson, global market strategist, JPMorgan Asset Management, said in a note Tuesday that “politics has to remain front and center for investors” in 2020. “The U.S.-China trade war is far from resolved,” she added. “Returns will depend on just how tolerant investors can be of their fears in a low growth world.”

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index rose 3.3% in October on an annual basis, slightly above the 3.2% reported n September. The index measures average home prices in major metropolitan areas across the country.

“October’s U.S. housing data continue to be reassuring,” said Craig J. Lazzara, a managing director at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “With October’s 3.3% increase in the national composite index, home prices are currently more than 15% above the pre-financial crisis peak reached July 2006.”

China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing came in at 50.2 for the month of December, just above expectations of 50.1. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

China has now seen two straight months of such expansion, after six months of contraction.

“We do not think Beijing will overreact to the two consecutive above-50 manufacturing [Purchasing Managers’ Index] readings, as we believe it learned the lesson from spring this year, when some headline data pointed to a seeming recovery,” Nomura of Japan wrote in a note on Tuesday. “We expect Beijing to roll out more easing measures despite limited policy room in coming quarters.”

Carlos Ghosn, the former Nissan boss has fled Japan, where he faces allegations of financial misconduct, for Lebanon.

Overnight in Asia, markets were mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.33%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.46%. Japan’s Nikkei-225 was closed for the holiday.

For the year, the Hang Seng rose 9.07%, the Shanghai Composite surged 23.8% and the Nikkei jumped 20.93%.

In Europe markets traded lower, with Britain’s FTSE-100 (which closed early) down 0.59%, and France’s CAC-40 off 0.07%. Germany’s DAX was closed for the holiday.

For the year, the DAX surged 25.22%; the FTSE gained 12.1% and CAC soared 26.36%.

Crude oil futures fell 0.08% at $61.63 per barrel and Brent crude slipped 0.13% at $66.58. Gold futures gained 0.42%.

The euro gained 0.22% at $1.1226 while the pound sterling rose 1.21% at $1.3271.