Wall Street mixed as China-U.S. tensions weigh
By Noel Randewich (Reuters) - Wall Street was mixed on Friday in a mostly tame finish to a week of strong gains, as investors gauged China-U.S. tensions and amid ongoing uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery from the coronavirus. President Donald Trump's warning on Thursday that the U.S

By Noel Randewich
(Reuters) - Wall Street was mixed on Friday in a mostly tame finish to a week of strong gains, as investors gauged China-U.S. tensions and amid ongoing uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery from the coronavirus.
President Donald Trump's warning on Thursday that the U.S. would react strongly to China's plan for a national security law in Hong Kong has raised concerns over Washington and Beijing's possibly reneging on their Phase 1 trade deal.
The rhetoric knocked Wall Street off multi-month highs, although the main indexes were still set to add over 2% for the week, fueled by optimism about an eventual coronavirus vaccine and the easing of virus-related curbs.
"The biggest thing out there today is the Hong Kong/China saber rattling," said Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. "We still think COVID-19 concerns are in the driver's seat, but we could see U.S.-China relations move back into the front seat."
The Nasdaq index is down about 5% from its Feb. 19 record high, helped in recent weeks by gains in Microsoft
At 2:17 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> was down 0.11% at 24,446.31 points, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 0.14% to 2,952.58. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 0.36% to 9,318.50.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were lower, with energy <.SPNY> dropping more than 1% as oil prices sank 5%. [O/R]
Mixed earnings from retailers Walmart Inc
On Friday, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group
Nvidia
KKR & Co
Data analytics software maker Splunk Inc
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.11-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and eight new lows.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Additional reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru and Pawel Goraj in Gdansk; Editing by Leslie Adler)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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