By Amy Caren Daniel
May 30 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose for the first time this week on Thursday, as President Donald Trump said trade talks with China were going well, offering a glimmer of hope to markets roiled by worries that a protracted dispute would slow economic growth.
A senior Chinese diplomat said provoking trade disputes is”naked economic terrorism”, even as Trump said Beijing wanted to make a deal with Washington.
The escalating dispute has weighed heavily on Wall Street this month, putting its main indexes on track for losses of more than 5% in May. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX is now 5.9% away from its all-time high of 2,954.13 hit on May 1.
“The positivity in markets is very muted today, there are fractional gains,” said Peter Kenny, founder of Kenny’sCommentary LLC in New York.
Despite a tick up in U.S. treasury yields on Thursday, they still hovered near 20-month lows as investors sought safety in government bonds. US/
“Uncertainty is still the primary driver on the trade front.We have increasingly seen the fear of uncertainty being priced into the market, and that is all about trade and the prospect of a slowdown.”
The yield curve between three-month bills and 10-year notes remained inverted, with money markets pricing in roughly twoU.S. rate cuts by the start of next year.
Interest-rate sensitive bank stocks .SPXBK fell 0.54%,while the broader financial sector .SPSY declined 0.24%.
Technology stocks .SPLRCT , among the worst performing S&P sectors this month, rose 0.38% and boosted markets.
The sector was helped by a 9.6% jump in Keysight Technologies KEYS.N after the electronic measurement equipment maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results and announced a $500 million share buyback plan.
Apple IncAAPL.O , Microsoft CorpMSFT.O and Intel CorpINTC.O also rose and offered support.
At 11:10 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 6.11 points, or 0.02%, at 25,132.52. The S&P 500 .SPX was up 5.54 points, or 0.20%, at 2,788.56 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 19.47 points, or 0.26%, at 7,566.78.
The energy sector .SPNY fell 1.1%, the most among the four major S&P sectors trading lower.`
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.45-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.28-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and 13 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and 69 new lows.