Morgans AM: Friday 18 May 2018

Morgans Financial Limited

The major US equity indices eased as investors' focus seemingly turned renewed trade tensions - Dow down -55-points or -0.22%, with Cisco Systems Inc falling -3.76% following the network giant's first quarter result fell short of Wall Street's expectations after Wednesday's (17 May) session close. The S&P500 slipped -0.09%, with a +1.3% gain for the Energy sector not enough to keep the broader benchmark in positive territory. Defensive sectors continued to labour as bond yields continued to climb, with Utilities (down --0.9%) and Real Estate (-0.5%). The technology-centric NASDAQ dipped -0.21%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 Index posted its second record closing high in-a-row, up +0.55% to 1,625.29. A second round of US-China trade talks was scheduled in Washington on Thursday however President Trump didn't strike an optimistic tone after he said Beijing had become too “spoiled” and that his expectations for the negotiations were low: “Will that be successful? I tend to doubt it.”