Investing.com – Wall Street traded with mixed signs in choppy trade on Tuesday, as an upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping focused market attention so far this week.
At 11:55AM ET (15:55GMT), the Dow Jones gained 42 points, or 0.20%, the S&P 500 inched up less than a point, or 0.01%, while the Nasdaq Composite was unchanged.
In a session with no major news, investors looked ahead to the two-day meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies which is expected to cover differences over trade and North Korea.
Trump warned in a tweet last week that the meeting "will be a very difficult one" with market players attentive to see how the U.S. President moves forward with protectionist policies.
He did mention that he was pleased with the U.S. trade deficit data out Tuesday as it narrowed to a four-month low thanks to the fact that exports hit a two-year high.
Although Trump did repeat on Tuesday that his infrastructure spending package could be worth upwards of $1 trillion, stocks have been in the doldrums this week as he showed his reluctance in an interview with the Financial Times to lay out a timeline for widely anticipated tax reform program.
As a reminder of Trump’s failure to pull healthcare reform through Congress, House Speaker Ryan said Tuesday that lawmakers are having ongoing, productive talks on healthcare reform although they are still at a “conceptual stage”.
In other economic data released Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported that factory orders increased for a third straight month in February with the 1% increase matching expectations.
Also on Tuesday’s calendar, Federal Reserve (Fed) governor Daniel Tarullo was scheduled to give his “Departing Thoughts” at 4:30PM ET (22:30GMT) just one day ahead of his final day at the U.S. central bank. Tarullo submitted his letter of resignation February 10 to President Donald Trump and will have his last day at the central bank on April 5.
Tarullo’s final speech, accompanied by a Q&A will be the last of a long line of Fed comments in the last two weeks, as market players prepare to assess employment data this week culminating in the jobs report on Friday.
Markets are currently pricing the next Fed rate hike to come at the June 14 meeting with odds at around 50%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
In company news, Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) jumped more than 2% and led the Dow higher as Goldman Sachs added the heavy equipment maker to its “Conviction Buy” list.
Staples Inc (NASDAQ:SPLS) led advancers on the S&P 500 with gains of more than 10% on a report that the largest U.S. office supplies retailer is considering its sale in talks with private equity bidders.
Leading the decliners on the stock benchmark, Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) fell nearly 13% as the provider of indoor and outdoor lighting and energy management solutions report quarterly earnings-per-share that missed consensus.
Meanwhile, oil prices jumped more than 1% on Tuesday with no evidence of bullish news as market players looked ahead to the American Petroleum Institute’s its weekly report on crude inventories at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) .
Official government figures will be released on Wednesday amid expectations for a draw of 0.543 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures gained 1.47% to $50.98 by 11:58AM ET (15:58GMT), while Brent oil traded up 1.71% to $54.03.