S&P 500 a touch lower, -0.28%, as Mnuchin and Pelosi talk is confirmed to have started

The S&P 500 is into positive territory in the afternoon but pulls back as markets brace for an outcome of the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's talk.

They were scheduled to talk at 230 PM EDT (1830 GMT) about details of a relief package.

However, confirmations are only just coming through now at the time of writing that they are indeed talking.

At the same time the prior day, when the call was confirmed to start, stocks on Wall Street fell as soon as the call was reported to have started. 

We are seeing the same now.

The S&P 500 had risen 0.3%, possibly in anticipation of a breakthrough prior to the call but are starting to talk off as the call is confirmed to have started.

The S&P 500 has dropped 0.28%.

Democrats want the package to be in the range of $2.2 trillion, but Pelosi said she hoped to resolve the "appropriations piece" of the aid bill Wednesday, which the market thinks is more realistic. 

However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not want to bring a large coronavirus aid bill to the Senate floor before the election, a senior Republican aide said.

This makes for a pre-election agreement far less likely.

Meanwhile, according to the polls, Democratic challenger Joe Biden Republican is leading the race to the White House, according to the latest polls. 

Currently, the 10-poll average indicates that just over half of Americans intend to back Joe Biden while President Donald Trump’s support trails this by around five or six points.

Americans will vote Tuesday 3rd November in order to elect their next President.

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will face off in their second and final debate on Thursday night.

In data, the S&P 500 was changed little after the Federal Reserve's Beige Book gave a snapshot of the economy which has shown that employment increased in almost all districts, though growth remained slow.

Fed's Beige Book: Employment increased in almost all districts, growth remained slow

In performers, of the major industry sectors communications services .SPLRCL was the biggest gainer, up nearly 2%, after Snapchat messaging app owner Snap Inc SNAP beat user growth and revenue forecasts, as more people signed up to chat with friends and family during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported.

''The results boosted the shares of social media companies Facebook Inc FB , up around 5%, and Twitter Inc TWTR , up around 8%, helped lift the communications services sector along with a 2.7% rise for Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOG.''

S&P 500 levels