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* China announces tariff exemptions, Trump open to interim
* August retail sales rise 0.4% vs forecast of 0.2%
* Dow & S&P 500 trading within 1 percent below all-time
highs
* Dow rises 0.21%, S&P 500 off 0.04%, Nasdaq down 0.2%
(Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street was mixed on
Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow hovering just below
all-time highs as cautious optimism regarding easing U.S.-China
trade tensions was held in check by a drop in Apple stock.
Tariff-vulnerable industrials helped keep the blue chip Dow
in positive territory, which was on track for its eighth
straight daily advance, its longest winning streak since May
2018.
All three major U.S. stock indexes looked set to post their
third straight weekly gains, capping a week that saw signs of a
potential thaw in the trade war between the world's two largest
economies that has gripped markets for months.
Apple Inc AAPL.O was the biggest drag on the major stock
averages, dropping 1.8% after Goldman Sachs cut its price target
for the iPhone maker's shares. Beijing announced it would exempt some U.S. agricultural
products from additional tariffs after President Donald Trump
suggested he could be open to an interim deal, the latest in a
series of conciliatory gestures by both sides of the trade war
ahead of next month's negotiations in Washington.
"We've had these small concessions back and forth, which at
minimum gives investors some confidence that things are moving
in the right direction," said Joseph Sroka, chief investment
officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. "I don't think the Chinese are
going to roll over on trade but they recognize there is a mutual
benefit to keep the U.S. from escalating the trade war."
On the economic front, U.S. retail sales increased in August
at twice the rate analysts expected, according the Commerce
Department, suggesting that strong consumer spending will
continue to support the longest-ever U.S. economic expansion.
Ebbing trade jitters and upbeat retail sales data helped
U.S. Treasury yields reach multi-week highs. "Investors will reevaluate their appetite for equities at
the next big catalyst event, which will be the Fed meeting,"
Sroka added.
Indeed, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut
interest rates by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its
monetary policy meeting next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 56.58 points,
or 0.21%, to 27,239.03, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.06 points, or
0.04%, to 3,008.51 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
16.24 points, or 0.2%, to 8,178.23.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, seven were in the
red, with real estate .SPLRCR suffering the largest percentage
loss.
Materials .SPLRCM and financial .SPSY stocks were the
biggest gainers, up 1.3% and 1.0%, respectively.
Chipmaker Broadcom Inc AVGO.O slipped 2.5% after the
company missed quarterly revenue estimates late Thursday and
said that while semiconductor demand has likely hit bottom, the
timing of a recovery remains uncertain. Progressive Corp PGR.N fell 5.3% after the insurer
reported a 36% year-on-year drop in August net income.
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc LL.N plunged 12.1% after
founder Thomas Sullivan told Bloomberg he was holding off on
plans to take the company private. Tyson Foods Inc TSN.N , the largest U.S. meat processor,
advanced 2.3% on China's tariff exemption announcement.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.02-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.38-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and 1 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 77 new highs and 19 new lows.