American equities struggle for direction

On Tuesday, American shares struggled for direction due to the fact that profits in Walmart compensated losses in financials, with trade negotiations between China and America in focus.

Expectations that the two leading economies will come up with a deal to finish their ongoing trade conflict kept the three key indexes close to their two-month maximums.

The negotiations in Washington follow a round of talks, which concluded in Beijing the previous week without a deal but which statesmen told had resulted in progress.

The tariff-vulnerable industrials sector went down by 0.35%, with bellwether Boeing tumbling by 0.6%.

As for the consumer staples sector, it managed to go up by 0.53%, which is the most impressive outcome among the 11 key S&P sectors, underpinned by a 3.8% leap in stocks of Walmart Inc.

The big-box retailer posted an estimate-beating rally in holiday quarter comparable sales, backed by higher consumer spending as well as more e-commerce purchases.

Equities of fellow retailers jumped too, with Costco Wholesale Corp soaring by 1.2% as well as Target Corp tacking on by 1.6%.

The previous week American retail sales demonstrated their greatest dive for more than 9 years for December, backing worries of an economic deceleration.

ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average headed south by 0.10% being worth 25,857.77. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rallied by 0.02% reaching 2,776.10, while the Nasdaq Composite ascended by 0.16% ending up with 7,484.60.

Market participants will await more clues on monetary policy when the Fed comes up with the minutes from its January gathering on Wednesday.

In addition to this, JPMorgan Chase & Co headed south by 1.5%, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc decreased by 1.1%, pushing the financial index 0.41% down.

Medtronic soared by 1.1%.

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