US STOCKS-Wall Street slips from records as investors lock in year-end gains

Published 30/12/2019, 22:20
© Reuters.  US STOCKS-Wall Street slips from records as investors lock in year-end gains
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* China trade deal signing expected soon -White House

adviser

* Tesla rival Nio jumps after strong quarterly sales

* Major indexes post biggest pct drop in about 4 weeks

* Indexes down: Dow 0.64%, S&P 0.58%, Nasdaq 0.67%

(Updates to market close)

By April Joyner

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major stock

indexes slipped from record highs on Monday as investors booked

profits from gains made this month after the United States and

China reached a trade deal.

The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq

posted their biggest one-day percentage declines in about four

weeks.

Monday brought minor updates on the U.S.-China trade

agreement. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the pact

was likely to be signed in the next week but that confirmation

would come from President Donald Trump or U.S. Trade

Representative Robert Lighthizer. A South China Morning Post report said Chinese Vice Premier

Liu He would travel to Washington later this week to sign the

deal. The news provided little impetus for U.S. stocks to extend

their steep climb, analysts said. Going into Monday, the

benchmark S&P 500 had notched record high closes in nine of the

past 11 sessions.

"Many traders and portfolio managers have reached their

targets and don't want to jeopardize their performance," said

Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial

in Newark, New Jersey. "So it's not unusual to see some

profit-taking as we get to the close of the year."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 183.12 points,

or 0.64%, to 28,462.14, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 18.73 points, or

0.58%, to 3,221.29 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped

60.62 points, or 0.67%, to 8,945.99.

Communications services stocks .SPLRCL fell 1%, the

biggest percentage decline among the S&P 500's sectors.

Technology stocks .SPLRCT dropped 0.6% and weighed most

heavily on the benchmark index. Technology, up 47.5%

year-to-date, and communication services, up 30.6%, have led in

percentage gains on the S&P 500 this year.

It is "not uncommon for the leading sectors to pull back

first when people start to sell because if it is an

outperformer, then it warrants a lot more downside risk," said

Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for

Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

On Tuesday, stocks will trade on Wall Street for a full

session prior to Wednesday's New Year's Day break.

In a bright spot among U.S. stocks, Nio Inc NIO.N shares

surged 53.7% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker and Tesla

rival beat quarterly revenue estimates on higher demand.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a

1.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.52-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the

Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 29 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.12 billion shares, below the

6.89 billion average for the full session over the last 20

trading days.

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