Wall Street Mixed Amid Trade Hopes, Earnings Watch, and Sector Swings

Markets rose early on trade optimism but faded with earnings anticipation; gold and steel stocks surged while treasuries rallied on economic data.

The Nasdaq rose 78.52 points (0.4%) to 20,974.17 and the S&P 500 inched up 8.81 points (0.1%) to 6,305.60, although the narrower Dow edged down 19.12 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,323.07.

Wall Street rose on trade deal hopes as Lutnick expressed confidence in a US - EU agreement. He set August 1st as the tariff deadline. Gains faded later as traders awaited earnings from Alphabet, Tesla and Intel.

Conference Board released a report showed its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by slightly more than expected in the month of June. It?s leading economic index declined by 0.3% in June following a revised unchanged reading in May.

Despite the pullback by the broad markets, gold stocks substantially moved to the upside , resulting in a 3.8% spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks comes amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal. Steel stocks were significantly strong s, as reflected by the 2.5% surge by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. Telecom and retail stocks too saw some strength while natural gas and biotechnology stocks notably moved downside.

Asia-Pacific stocks turned in a mixed performance, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index slumped by 1%. The major European markets also ended the day mixed while the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3%, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2%.

In the bond market, treasuries moved notably higher early in the session and remained firmly positive throughout the day. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 6.0 basis points to 4.37%.

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