Wall Street opens little changed as investors wait for US-China trade developments

• High-level United States (US)-China trade talks started in Washington.
• Investors seem to be refraining from making large bets.

Wall Street’s main indexes started the day virtually unchanged on Thursday as investors stay on the sidelines while waiting for the headlines that will come out of the high-level trade negotiations between China and the US that kicked off earlier in the day. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7% on the day, the S&P 500 was flat, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.1%.

In the last hour,  Chinese Vice Premier Liu He reiterated that China was willing to reach agreement on matters that both sides care about. “We are willing to cooperate with the US  on the trade balance, market access and investors’ protection,” Liu He added.

The sharp recovery witnessed in the US Treasury bond yield following these comments seem to be providing a boost to the S&P 500 Financials Index, which was last up 0.75% on the day.

On the other hand, the so-called defensive sectors, Utilities, Real Estate, and Consumer Staples, are posting losses in the early trade.