Stock investors gauge positive, negative developments to trade in shortened session
U.S. stocks opened lower on Christmas Eve, as investors weighed the significance of China saying progress was made on trade talks with American officials against news that the Treasury secretary with with heads of big banks and made plans to convene a group dubbed the "Plunge Protection Team . "
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the CEOs of the nation's six largest banks on Sunday amid and ongoing rout on Wall Street." "The CEOs confirmed that they have liquidity available for landing," the Treasury Department said. Mnuchin "also confirmed that they have no clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly," the department said.
Meanwhile, China said it plans to remove import and export tariffs in 201[ads1]9 on a range of goods , Including import taxes on alternative meals used in animal feed, to secure supplies of raw materials amide trade tensions with the United States and boosting outbound cargoes.
US markets will end at 1:00 pm ET
Congress missed a midnight Friday deadline for getting a spending bill passed, resulting in a partial government shutdown. Ticker
In Monday's Asian trading, China's Shanghai Composite ended the day up 0.4 percent
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.4 percent
And Japan's markets were closed.
In Europe trading, London's FTSE was down 0.5 percent, France's CAC traded down 1.5 percent. Germany's markets were closed for Christmas Eve
On Friday, stocks ended in a choppy session sharply lower with the Nasdaq Composite in bear market territory.
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The tech-heavy index lost 3 percent, or more Than 195 points, the Dow Jones Industrials fell over 414 points, or nearly 2 percent, while the S&P shed 2 percent plus, ending the week with a third down session. Investors wrestled with mounting groups over a partial government shutdown, the ongoing trade spat with China and rising fears that the US could be facing a recession in 2019.
Amid the selling, investors did get decent economic data. Third-quarter gross domestic product came in at 3.4 percent in a third update released on Friday, in line with analyst expectations and slightly lower than the first reading of 3.5 percent, according to the Commerce Department.
