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* Nike rises on report of Goldman Sachs upgrade
* Kroger drops on quarterly sales, profit miss
* Sage sinks as depression therapy fails trial
* Indexes off: Dow 0.18%, S&P 500 0.11%, Nasdaq 0.13%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Arjun Panchadar
Dec 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped on Thursday as declines
in defensive sectors such as consumer staples overshadowed gains
in technology stocks, while a lack of new developments in trade
talks between Washington and Beijing kept investors on the
sidelines.
Wall Street's main indexes opened higher, extending gains
from the previous session, but quickly lost steam in the first
hour of trading.
"There is no new news on the trade war and it's mostly
that," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and
derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
"So unless we get a positive or negative story to push the
market one way or the other, we might as well be trading in this
range for a while."
Wall Street snapped a three-day losing streak in the
previous session as headlines suggested the world's two largest
economies were closer to agreeing how many tariffs would be
rolled back in a "phase one" trade deal. If no agreement is
reached soon, more tariffs on Chinese goods will kick in from
Dec. 15. The consumer staples .SPLRCS sector shed 0.7% on Thursday,
leading declines among the 11 major sectors, while tech stocks
.SPLRCT rose 0.1%.
Adding to the risk-off mood were comments from U.S. House of
Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said she had directed
a House committee to draft articles of impeachment against
President Donald Trump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 48.96
points, or 0.18%, at 27,600.82, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 3.28
points, or 0.11%, at 3,109.48 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
was down 11.27 points, or 0.13%, at 8,555.40.
Investors also shrugged off data that showed U.S. trade
deficit dropped to its lowest level in nearly 1-1/2 years in
October, while another report suggested the labor market
remained in good shape after weekly jobless claims fell.
All eyes will now be on the Labor Department's non-farm
payrolls data due Friday.
Nike Inc NKE.N shares climbed 1.4% after a report said
Goldman Sachs upgraded the sportswear maker's stock to "buy".
Kroger Co KR.N dropped 4.4% as it missed analysts'
estimates for quarterly sales and profit. Sage Therapeutics SAGE.O tumbled 57% after its
experimental fast-acting drug aimed at treating severe
depression failed a closely watched study. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.15-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 10 new 52-week highs and three new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 42 new highs and 46 new lows.