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* Trump says U.S. 'very close' to trade deal with China
* Focus on potential Dec. 15 tariffs on Chinese goods
* Energy, financials lead gains among sectors
* Indexes up: Dow 0.51%, S&P 500 0.54%, Nasdaq 0.39%
(Updates to mid afternoon)
By Lewis Krauskopf
Dec 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes hit record
highs on Thursday, but eased back from steeper initial gains,
after President Donald Trump tweeted the United States was close
to a deal with China ahead of a Sunday deadline that could be a
turning point in the two countries' trade relations.
Stocks jumped, with the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX rising as
much as 1.1%, after Trump's tweet and reports that the United
States has offered to cut existing tariffs on Chinese goods by
as much as 50% and suspend new tariffs expected to go into
effect Sunday. Wall Street has been hopeful the tariffs would at least be
delayed as the world's two largest economies make progress on an
initial trade deal.
"It's extremely important the new tariffs don't go into
place," said Burns McKinney, portfolio manager at Allianz Global
Investors in Dallas. "For the last several months there's been a
lot of noise on trade. This is not noise. This is the real
thing, an important deadline."
Investors were wary of placing too much faith in the
developments following the continued ups and downs during the
long U.S.-China trade saga that has convulsed markets.
The pull-back from session highs reflected "pretty natural
skepticism," said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at
Nationwide.
"How many times have we had the Lucy pulling the football
away in this trade deal?" Hackett said.
“This one seems a little bit more tangible than some of the
previous ones, but I still think investors are wise to
wait...for something actually being signed,” Hackett said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 143.05 points,
or 0.51%, to 28,054.35, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 16.81 points,
or 0.54%, to 3,158.44 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
33.75 points, or 0.39%, to 8,687.80.
The S&P 500 hit an intraday all-time high for the first time
since Nov. 27.
The benchmark index has gained 26% so far in 2019, fueled by
interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and better than
feared corporate profits along with optimism over U.S.-China
trade relations.
A day after the Fed held interest rates steady and signaled
borrowing costs will not change anytime soon, Europe's central
bank held its rates steady and its new head struck a more upbeat
tone on the economy. Among S&P 500 sectors, energy .SPNY and financials .SPSY
gained the most, while defensive groups, including real estate
.SPLRCR and utilities .SPLRCU , were negative.
In company news, Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N shares rose
3.0% as the company projected another annual rise in profit and
revenue in 2020. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.57-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.64-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 78 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 176 new highs and 48 new lows.