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* China trade deal signing expected soon - White House
adviser
* Tesla rival Nio jumps after strong quarterly sales
* Energy sector up on higher oil prices
* Dow Jones on track for worst day in nearly four weeks
* Indexes off: Dow 0.53%, S&P 0.51%, Nasdaq 0.72%
(Updates prices)
By Manas Mishra
Dec 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street slipped on Monday as
investors booked profits on the penultimate day of the decade
after optimism over improving U.S.-China trade relations fueled
a stock market rally this month.
White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday the
pact was likely to be signed in the next week, but added that
confirmation would come from President Donald Trump or the
Office of U.S. Trade Representative.
A South China Morning Post report earlier said Chinese Vice
Premier Liu He would travel to Washington later this week to
sign the deal. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX closed at all-time highs in
nine of the past 11 sessions, also powered by improving global
sentiment and a loose monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
But with no other major updates on trade expected before the
new year and thin trading volumes in a holiday-shortened week,
some analysts expect the record run to lose steam further.
"It has been a pretty spectacular year, and Q4 especially
has been really good, so a lot of times people might be inclined
to take some profits," said Randy Frederick, vice president of
trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.
Tech stocks largely led the drop in the S&P 500, with
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O dragging the
sector. Information technology stocks were the best performing
among the 11 S&P 500 subsectors this year.
"It is also not uncommon for the leading sectors to pull
back first when people start to sell because if it is an
outperformer, then it warrants a lot more downside risk,"
Frederick said.
Conversely, Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron Corp
CVX.N led gains on the benchmark index, tracking higher oil
prices. Energy was the only S&P 500 sector in the black. O/R
At 11:20 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 152.05 points, or 0.53%, at 28,493.21, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 16.55 points, or 0.51%, at 3,223.47. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 64.73 points, or 0.72%, at 8,941.89.
Nio Inc NIO.N soared 43.6% after the Tesla rival beat
quarterly revenue estimates on higher demand for its electric
vehicles. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.47-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 1.65-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 12 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 20 new lows.