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* Trump says potentially open to interim trade deal with
China
* August retail sales rise 0.4% vs forecast of 0.2%
* Apple, Broadcom drag on Nasdaq
* Indexes: Dow up 0.23%, S&P 500 gains 0.12%, Nasdaq off
0.04%
(Updates market movement, adds comment)
By Uday Sampath Kumar
Sept 13 (Reuters) - Losses in shares of U.S. technology
majors Apple and Broadcom set Wall Street for a subdued end to
the week, as traders balanced the latest indicators of uncertain
global growth outlook with perceived progress in Sino-U.S. trade
relations.
Broadcom Inc AVGO.O , among the world's biggest chipmakers,
weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq after it said in results late
on Thursday that demand for microchips had bottomed out and that
a recovery was not yet on the cards. That pointed to more headwinds for tech companies buffeted
this year by the trade conflict. Technology stocks .SPLRCT
fell 0.43% and were the biggest drag among the 11 major S&P
sectors.
Apple AAPL.O fell 2.16% after Goldman Sachs cuts its price
target for the stock, citing concerns over its new Apple TV+
service.
Adding to the high-growth tech sector's losses, a U.S. House
of Representatives panel demanded internal emails and other
records from Apple and other technology giants - Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN.O , Facebook Inc FB.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O .
All of the FAANG stocks, apart from Netflix Inc NFLX.O ,
traded lower on Friday.
"The monitor would be painted with green if not for Apple,
Broadcom and Amazon," said Peter Cardillo, chief market
economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
Still, the S&P 500's marginal gains brought it to within
0.5% of its record high, with financial stocks .SPSY providing
the biggest boost.
Banks .SPXBK followed U.S. Treasury yields higher after
data showed U.S. retail sales rose 0.4% in August, lifted by
spending on cars, building materials, healthcare and hobbies.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an increase of 0.2%.
Trade worries have taken a back seat this week after trade
concessions from both the United States and China and President
Donald Trump's latest comments that he was potentially open to
an interim trade deal with China. "It doesn't mean we will have a trade deal, but maybe a
possibility that the U.S. and China might postpone the new
tariffs and possibly even relax some of the tariffs that are
already in place," Cardillo said. "It's a market of hope. A hope
of a cosmetic resolution."
However, doubts about U.S. growth remain, with the
International Monetary Fund forecasting that the tit-for-tat
tariffs could reduce global GDP in 2020 by 0.8%. At 12:05 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 63.86 points, or 0.23%, at 27,246.31, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 3.75 points, or 0.12%, at 3,013.32 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was down 3.60 points, or 0.04%, at 8,190.87.
If markets hold at current levels, they are set for their
third straight week of gains, having already recouped losses
from August when escalating trade tensions and the inversion of
a key part of the U.S. yield curve drove investors toward assets
perceived to be safe havens in the event of a downturn.
Tyson Foods Inc TSN.N , the United States' largest meat
processor, rose 3.04% after China's official Xinhua News Agency
said the country would exempt some U.S. pork and soybeans from
additional tariffs on U.S. goods. Investors are now expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut
rates at its policy meeting next week. The European Central Bank
announced a sweeping stimulus drive on Thursday to prop up the
euro zone economy.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.17-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and 14 new lows.