S&P 500 Index opens modestly higher as investors eye US-China headlines

• S&P 500 is inching closer to all-time highs on Monday.
• US Commerce Department adds 38 Huawei affiliates to US economic blacklist.
• US Commerce Secretary Ross says China is buying large amounts of US agricultural products.

Major equity indexes in the US trade mixed at the start of the week as investors assess the latest headlines surrounding the US-China relations. As of writing, the S&P 500 was up 0.28% on the day at 3,382, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.19% at 27,875 and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 0.8% at 11,109.

Earlier in the day, the US Commerce Department announced that it added 38 Huawei affiliates to the US economic blacklist with an aim to tighten Chinese tech-giant’s access to the US technology and semiconductors. On the other hand, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross noted China was buying large amounts of agricultural products from the US ahead of the phase-one trade deal review.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Technology and the Consumer Discretionary indexes are both up around 0.8% as the top-performers. On the other hand, the Financials Index is down 0.9% pressured by a 2.65% drop in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield.

S&P 500 chart (daily)