Investing.com - The Dow closed slightly higher on Friday, but once again failed to hit the 20,000.00 marker.
Nasdaq notched increases for the day, as did the S&P 500.
The Dow's utilities index was up too.
The Dow Jones Industrial Averagewas up 15.06, at 19933.81.
NASDAQ Composite was up 15.25 points, just over 5462.69.
The S&P 500 closed at 2263.79, up slightly.
Tough talk by billionaire Carl Icahn on a possible trade war between the U.S. and China is dampening investors's spirits as the Christmas holiday approaches. On Friday, theDow Jones Industrial Average was down again, and the Dow was seemingly without momentum to reach the milestone of a 20,000.00 market close.
The Dow was at 19907.90 early this afternoon, a decline of 10.98, or 0.6%, from yesterday's closing number.
"If you have a trade war with China, by definition, I remember the days something like that would really knock the hell out of the market, but maybe if you're going to do it, you should get it over with, right? So that's a consideration, you have to just make up your mind, if that's what you're going to do, you go do it," Icahn said, in an interview with a financial TV network late yesterday.
"If you're asking me am I concerned about the market on the short term. Yeah I'm concerned about it," he concluded. "You can look at so many factors here that you have to worry about. Obviously, if you get into a trade war with China, sooner or later, I think we're going to have to come to grips with that, maybe it's better to do it sooner, but that's not my decision at all. I don't get involved with that."
Icahn is not directly involved in the transition team's China trade policy discussions. But he is President-elect Trump's closest confidant.
Traders said consumer goods, and electronics, would be most heavily impacted if a trade war with China was pursued by the U.S.
Cheap goods in those sectors have flooded the U.S. in recent years, and Trump blames the influx for the closure of 70,000 factories in the U.S.
It is well-known that China violates with impunity U.S. and international intellectual property law and copies products without having to pay licensing fees, giving it a price advantage over developers who have spent billions in R&D to design the products in the U.S. This is said to be a primary point of contention with China for the new administration.