US stocks dipped in choppy trading on Thursday as uncertainty over the outcome of a high-stakes meeting between the United States and China at the upcoming G20 Summit kept investors on edge. President Donald Trump sent conflicting signals on a potential trade deal with China after he said Washington was close to making a deal but is not sure he wants to do it and likes where things stand now.
Adding to woes, a source told Reuters that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has advocated a tough stance against China, would be attending the summit. "Investors are more skittish than they should be. They listen to the headline news, and it has caused them to sell stocks," said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager with Hodges Funds, in Dallas, Texas.
"Trump may not want a trade deal and that causes things to selloff. You are also giving back something from yesterday's big gain." Wall Street's main indexes rallied to close more than 2 percent higher on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's dovish comments eased concerns about faster pace of monetary tightening.
The rate-sensitive financial sector fell 0.72 percent, with the KBW Bank index down 0.81 percent. Big US lenders JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of America Corp and Morgan Stanley fell between 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent.
The Fed is set to release its minutes from its Nov. 7-8 policy meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET, which could offer more clues on the path of future rate hikes. At 12:52 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 48.47 points, or 0.19 percent, at 25,317.96, the S&P 500 was down 3.77 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,740.02 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 12.89 points, or 0.18 percent, at 7,278.70.
The technology sector fell 0.83 percent, weighed down by a 1 percent fall in heavyweights Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp. McDonald's Corp rose 0.9 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to "overweight", saying the fast-food chain's store modernization efforts will pay off in 2019.
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