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* Xi to present Trump with terms for settling trade war -WSJ
* U.S., China agree to tentative trade truce -report
* Boeing falls as FAA cites new flaw in 737 MAX jets
* Walgreens rises on quarterly profit beat
* Indexes up: Dow 0.06%, S&P 0.43%, Nasdaq 0.57%
(Updates to open)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks drifted higher on Thursday,
helped by a rise in technology shares, but gains were limited as
investors awaited a G20 meeting for clarity on progress in trade
talks between the United States and China.
The South China Morning Post reported that the United States
and China were laying out an agreement that would help avert the
next round of tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese
imports. "The trade truce is what the market needs right now," said
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New
York.
"The message is that they're not going to escalate further
from here on and we're now in neutral territory. What investors
are hoping for now is that the meeting diffuses some of the
tension."
However, a Wall Street Journal report that Chinese President
Xi Jinping planned to present President Donald Trump with a set
of terms Washington should meet before Beijing is ready to
settle their trade dispute tempered optimism. The trade-sensitive industrials .SPLRCI rose 0.31%, while
tech stocks .SPLRCT were up 0.50%.
Semiconductor companies, which have a sizable revenue
exposure to China, traded higher, with the Philadelphia
Semiconductor index .SOX up 1.39%.
Boeing Co BA.N fell 3%, pressuring the blue-chip Dow Jones
index .DJI , after Reuters reported that the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration identified a new flaw in the
planemaker's grounded 737 MAX jets. At 9:45 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 15.78 points, or 0.06%, at 26,552.60 and the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 12.59 points, or 0.43%, at 2,926.37.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 44.75 points, or 0.57%,
at 7,954.72.
The bellwether S&P 500 index has recouped most of its losses
in May and is on pace to end June with a 6% gain, on hopes that
the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates to counter slowing
growth.
Data showed U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first
quarter but the export and inventory boost to activity masked
weakness in domestic demand, some of which appears to have
prevailed in the current quarter. Among other stocks, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O
gained 3.8%, the most on the S&P 500, after the drugstore chain
beat analysts' expectations for quarterly profit.
Ford Motor Co F.N rose 2.3% after the carmaker said it
will have cut 12,000 jobs in Europe by the end of next year to
try to return the business to profit.
Conagra Brands Inc CAG.N tumbled 9.5%, the most among S&P
500 companies, after the packaged food company's quarterly sales
and profit fell short of analysts' estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.79-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 3.08-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded four new 52-week highs and one new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 10 new highs and 18 new lows.