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US-STOCKS-MARKETS
US stocks end flat amid worries over Fed, trade
NEW YORK, Sept 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street stocks finished
essentially flat on Friday, with worries about higher interest rates and the
US-China trade fight weighing on sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended slightly higher at 26,154.67.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose less than 0.1 percent at 2,904.97, while the
tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 8,010.04.
After a positive open, stocks veered into negative territory at midday
following a report that President Donald Trump still planned to go ahead with
new tariffs with China, despite another effort at negotiations with Beijing
launched by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
However, stocks later worked themselves back towards the flat-line, the
latest sign investors are taking Trump trade threats with a grain of salt.
“This is part of the president’s negotiating playbook and should not be a
surprise for the market,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at
Prudential Financial.
Analysts also pointed to unease after the yield on the 10-year US Treasury
bond hit 3.0 percent before declining a bit, with investors fearing that
interest rate hikes could pinch consumers.
Among individual stocks, Adobe climbed 2.3 percent after reporting a 24
percent rise in third-quarter revenue to $2.3 billion, with ventures tied to
cloud computing and other digitally oriented technologies generating growth.
Advanced Micro Devices shot up 7.4 percent after Argus lifted its price
target on the company.
BSS/AFP/HR/0927