Investing.com – Wall Street was mixed on Friday as investors wait for news on the outcome of the Chinese-U.S. trade talks.
The S&P 500 was down two points or 0.10% to 2,717.32 as of 9:40 AM ET (13:40 GMT) while the Dow composite increased over 21 points or 0.09% to 24,735.25 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell 14 points or 0.20% to 7,367.70.
Trade talks between the U.S. and China continue in Washington as the two largest economies try to find a way to end their trade dispute. U.S. officials said on Thursday that China agreed to purchase up to $200 billion of American goods, but Chinese officials denied the agreement had been made.
The two countries have been in a tit-for-tat over trade tariffs in recent months.
Rising Treasury yields also remain in the back of investors’ minds, with the benchmark United States 10-Year yield dipping 0.76% to 3.086 after reaching a seven-year session high of 3.126. As bond yields rise, prices fall.
The increase in bond yields, combined with strengthening inflation, have increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy.
PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) was among the biggest gainers after the morning bell, rising 1.33% after it confirmed it was buying payments startup iZettle. Meanwhile Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose 2.30% while Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) increased 1.23%.
Elsewhere Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) slumped 8.64% after its same-store sales missed expectations while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) dipped 0.25% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 0.22%.
In Europe stocks were down amid political uncertainty regarding Italy. Germany’s DAX fell 26 points or 0.20% while in France the CAC 40 decreased three points or 0.07% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 10 points or 0.13%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost seven points or 0.21% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 84 points or 0.83%.