• Wall Street ended lower on Wednesday after a late-afternoon reversal following signals from the Federal Reserve that it could change its bond investment policy this year, quenching a rally sparked by a strong private-sector jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI ended down 41.09 points, or 0.2 percent, at 20,648.15, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 7.21 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,352.95 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 34.13 points, or 0.58 percent, to 5,864.48.
Also investor concerns about the Trump administration's ability to deliver promised tax cuts were intensified by comments from lawmakers on deep divisions in Washington.
• Most Federal Reserve policymakers think the U.S. central bank should take steps to begin trimming its $4.5 trillion balance sheet this year as long as the economic data holds up, Fed meeting minutes showed.
• “Either it scared participants because of talk that sounds like maybe (the stock market) is bubbling, or there is some thought that the normalization of the balance sheet is going to harm growth ... or we are going to get more (rate) hikes” than already expected, said Janna Sampson, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI closed up 14.8 points, or 0.07 percent, to close at 20,662.95, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 4.54 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,357.49 after reaching a session high of 2364.16 earlier in the day.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 14.47 points, or 0.25 percent, to 5,878.95.
Wall Street's major indexes closed slightly higher on Thursday but finished well off session highs as investors were nervous about upcoming talks between China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
• The leaders of the world's two biggest economies are to greet each other at the president's Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, late Thursday afternoon, kicking off a summit that will conclude with a working lunch on Friday.
• Investors are anxious for news on China-U.S. trade relations and discussions on reining in North Korea's arms program, according to market participants.
• Asian stocks drifted early on Friday after Wall Street and the dollar clocked tentative gains, with markets cautious over the talks between the U.S. and Chinese presidents and U.S. employment data later on Friday.
• MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was flat, headed for a 0.2 percent weekly increase.
• Japan's Nikkei .N225 added 0.8 percent early on Friday after touching a four-month low on Thursday. It's set to post a 0.85 percent loss for the week.
Reference: Reuters
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