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Stocks rose on Thursday, led by strong gains in energy shares. But those gains were capped by declines in WalMart and Cisco Systems as well as interest rates trading at multiyear highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 7.37 points to 24,761.56
The S&P 500 added 3.38 points to 2,725.70
The NASDAQ acquired 7.86 points to 7,406.16
However, Cisco fell 3.3%, and WalMart ditched 1.4%. Cisco fell after reporting weaker-than-expected sales for its key services business, while WalMart fell despite reporting better-than-expected earnings.
Wall Street also looked to Washington as the U.S. and China kicked off the second round of trade talks. U.S. and Chinese officials have indicated that the gap between the two countries is significant, however.
Tensions between the U.S. and china have increased in recent months as both countries have hit each other with tariffs targeting some of their exports. The U.S. also banned companies from exporting goods to Chinese tech companies ZTE. Those tensions have sparked worries that the two largest world economies could engage each other in a trade war.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were lower, raising yields to 3.11% from Wednesday’s 3.1%. Treasury prices and yields tend to move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained five cents a barrel to $71.50 U.S.
Gold prices dipped $4.30 at $1,287.20 U.S. an ounce.
