ZCZC
BCN-06
US-STOCKS-MARKETS
US stocks edge up as tense G7 meeting opens
NEW YORK, June 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street stocks moved cautiously on
Friday in the shadow of a tense Group of Seven meeting in Canada amid trade
conflicts, finishing a choppy session slightly higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 percent to 25,316.53.
The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 0.3 percent to 2,779.03, while the
tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent to 7,645.51.
A two-day G7 meeting opened in Canada that has earned the unofficial “G6
plus one” moniker following a series of aggressive trade actions by President
Donald Trump that have angered allies.
Trump threw an additional curveball at the group early Friday when he
called for Russia to be readmitted into the group.
“The G7 is usually neutral to the markets, but now there are concerns that
perhaps the trade talks will deteriorate,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market
strategist at Prudential Financial. “It adds some caution to the market.”
In recent weeks worries about a trade war have been offset by a string of
largely positive US economic data.
Krosby attributed Friday’s mixed trading also to next week’s calendar,
which includes meetings of the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.
“Next week is a very important week,” she said.
Among individual companies, Apple, the world’s biggest company by market
capitalization, fell 0.9 percent following an article in Nikkei Asian Review
that said the tech giant told suppliers to expect lower smartphone shipments
in the second half of 2018 compared with last year’s orders.
Procter & Gamble jumped 1.9 percent following a report by Bernstein that
suggested the company should be broken up.
BSS/AFP/HR/0920