Stocks – Wall Street Flat as Trade Optimism Ebbs

Investing.com – Wall Street was flat on Friday as momentum from rising U.S.-China trade hopes faded.

The was down 9 points or 0.1% by 9:44 AM ET (13:44 GMT), while the S&P 500 lost half a point or 0.1% and the rose 4 points or 0.1%.

Reports suggested that there was still resistance within the White House to the mutual roll-back on tariffs as outlined by China on Thursday.

Chinese officials said on Thursday that both sides had agreed to reduce tariffs, which the U.S. confirmed later in the day. But a divide remains in the White House over whether or not a tariff rollback is even a good idea, Reuters reported.

“We’ve been here before, where whatever information you are getting out of the White House differs from what you are getting out of China,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“There is a little bit of nervousness because of these cross-currents. After the gains we’ve seen so far, a little bit of back and forth is expected.”

Walt Disney (NYSE:) was one of the top movers, rising 4.8% after it reported a strong third quarter, as studio entertainment revenue jumped 52% due to strong movie box office results. Take-Two (NASDAQ:) Interactive gained 2.8% after its results for the third quarter came in better than expected, while Tesla (NASDAQ:) inched up 0.2%, and Twitter jumped 1%.

Elsewhere, Gap slumped 6.6% after news that its CEO Art Peck is leaving. The company also issued guidance for the full year late on Thursday that was 15% below consensus forecasts.

In commodities, the , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.2% to 98.178 and fell 0.4% to $1,460.95 a troy ounce. lost 1.9% to $56.09 a barrel.

-Reuters contributed to this report

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