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* U.S.-China trade in focus; U.S. pushes for Hong Kong
rights bill
* Fed minutes bring little surprise
* Trade-sensitive technology falls, materials lead decliners
* Indexes fall: Dow 0.41%, S&P 0.38%, Nasdaq 0.51%
(Updates to close, adds commentary)
By Sinéad Carew
Nov 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes ended
Wednesday's session lower on concerns that a "phase one" trade
deal between Washington and Beijing may not be completed this
year, while minutes from the Federal Reserve's October policy
meeting appeared to offer little help.
The Fed minutes offered little guidance on what would cause
policymakers to change their outlook after they decided at the
October meeting on the third interest rate cut of 2019 and
signaled they were done with the easing. Wall Street, which managed to end the day above its session
lows, had kicked off trading in the red after a U.S. Senate
measure aimed at protecting human rights in Hong Kong amid
prolonged protests appeared to escalate U.S.-China tensions.
Then equities deepened losses, hitting a session low in the
early afternoon after a Reuters report citing experts and people
close to the White House as saying completion of a U.S.-China
trade deal could slide beyond 2019.
"We have a December 15 deadline Trump has set for tariffs to
go higher. The hope has been in the market that a phase 1 deal
would be done before that," said Scott Ladner, chief investment
officer at Horizon Investments in Charlotte.
While the indexes ended above their session lows, Ryan
Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte,
North Carolina, said the market was more than due for a dip
because until Wednesday, the S&P had not registered two
consecutive declines in 30 trading days. This was its longest
stretch without back-to-back declines since 2005, he said.
But the strategist is worried that U.S.-China tensions over
Hong Kong could be a big factor in trade deal progress.
"Clearly that report led to a little skittishness reminding
us the market is led by the trade discussions," said Detrick.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 113.74 points,
or 0.41%, to 27,820.28, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 11.79 points, or
0.38%, to 3,108.39 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
43.93 points, or 0.51%, to 8,526.73.
Before Wednesday's drop, rising hopes for a trade deal and
a fairly strong third-quarter earnings season had helped Wall
Street's main indexes scale record highs this month.
Market declines on the day were broad-based, however, with
eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors falling and only utilities
.SPLRCU , real estate .SPLRCR and energy .SPNY gaining.
The trade-sensitive technology sector .SPLRCT fell 0.7%,
the biggest drag on the benchmark index while the Philadelphia
Semiconductor index .SOX slid 1.2%.
The materials index .SPLRCM was the biggest percentage
decliner of the major sectors on the day with a 1.2% loss. The
interest rate-sensitive financial index .SPSY pulled back from
its session low but still ended the day down 0.5% as safety
buying pushed down the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield
further.
Reports from Target Corp TGT.N and Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N
were bright spots on Wednesday, with their shares jumping 14%
and 3.9%, respectively, after the two companies raised their
profit forecasts. But apparel retailer Urban Outfitters Inc URBN.O fell
15.2% after missing quarterly sales estimates on weaker demand
for its namesake brand. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.36-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.70-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 95 new highs and 98 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.87 billion shares, compared
with the 7.03 billion average for the last 20 trading days.