Investing.com – Stocks were struggling to hold onto morning gains Tuesday even as President Donald Trump touted his administration's economy policy and hopes for a phase one trade deal.
- The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 indexes all hit new intraday highs but pulled back after the president offered no timetable on when to expect a trade deal with China.
- The S&P 500 was up less than a point at 3 PM ET (20:00 GMT). The Dow Jones industrials were off 0.1%. The Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 were 0.1% higher.
- Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) were the biggest drags on the Dow. Boeing was off nearly 1% after The Wall Street Journal said the company has lost more than 200 orders for 737 MAX jets. The company blamed airline bankruptcies and customers swapping out for other models. Caterpillar's business is influenced by sales in China.
- Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), Merck (NYSE:MRK), and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) were among the Dow leaders. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) were among the Nasdaq 100 leaders.
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Trump's speech was a rousing defense of his presidency, along with a full-throated round of bashing the Federal Reserve. But all he would say about the U.S.-China trade talks was that a deal was near.