Wall Street stocks mixed ahead of Group of Seven summit

The three main indices ended the day mixed on Thursday. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged losing 0.07% to 2,770.37 while to Dow Jones Industrial Average rose slightly to 25,241.41 adding 0.38%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.70% to 7,635.07. 

The technology sector was the most hammered by investors with shares of Facebook, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google) and Intel, all down more than 1% on Thursday.

The 10-year US Treasury yield benchmark flirted with 3% early in the day but then it dropped about 2.6% to 2.925% as bond prices rose. Falling rates are generally bearish for banks business models

“The selloff in the tech sector today appears to be technical, as these stocks had rallied a lot over the previous sessions, with many shares setting all-time highs. Overall, the skittishness of the market is likely due to important central bank meetings coming up next week as well as the G-7 summit. The G-7 event, which is normally market-neutral, is different this year because of trade issues,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.

In fact, the 44th G7 summit will be held on June 8 and 9 in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada. Talks are essentially expected to be about trade war issues. Last week the US slapped tariffs on imported aluminum and steel from Mexico, Canada and the Eurozone. They all said they would retaliate against the US tariffs. 

Meanwhile, Trump said he would invite Kim Jong Un to the US if the Singapore summit goes well. That would be the first time ever a sitting US president and a North Korean leader meet face to face.

Dow Jones daily