Stocks Edge Lower as Trade in Focus; Bonds Drop

(Bloomberg) — Stocks edged lower as investors weighed the chances that the U.S. will scrap a tariff hike on Chinese goods scheduled for Dec. 15.

The Index erased an early advance as a slide in defensive shares offset gains in technology and raw-material companies. Treasuries fell after data showed U.S. jobless claims slid to a seven-month low, signaling resilience in the labor market ahead of Friday’s jobs report. The dollar slipped. Oil got whipsawed as OPEC ministers gathered to discuss output cuts.

Investors watched for signs the world’s two largest economies will reach a truce in a dispute that’s led to the largest volley of tariffs since the 1930s. Chinese officials are in “close contact” with U.S. counterparts on negotiations, according to Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that discussions with China are going very well.

“It’s more of the same,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA. “We see a continuation of fairly choppy markets, but markets that are holding steady waiting for a resolution to the U.S.-China trade deal.”

Traders also awaited the jobs report on Friday, which is expected to signal that both the employment market and consumers remain buoyant enough to sustain the expansion. That would validate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s view that rates can stay on hold following three cuts. But it could also reduce the urgency for a trade deal with China, given that escalating levies have so far failed to significantly dent the U.S. labor market.

On corporate news:

• Nike Inc (NYSE:). rallied after Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:). recommended buying the shares.
• Apple Inc (NASDAQ:). rose as its price target was raised at Citigroup Inc (NYSE:).
• Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared on promising data from its dementia drug trial.
• Energy Fuels Inc. and Ur-Energy Inc. jumped as a White House report recommended ways to revive the uranium industry.
• Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:). climbed on plans to resume studies of its once-abandoned drug for Alzheimer’s disease.
• Sage Therapeutics Inc. sank as a key depression study failed to show benefit.
• At Home Group Inc. tumbled as its forecast disappointed investors.

Elsewhere, oil swung between gains and losses as OPEC reached an agreement that adjusts its official production targets, but removes few barrels from a market that’s forecast to return to surplus early next year.

Here are some key events coming up this week:

• U.S. Labor Department figures are set to show Friday that 184,000 workers were added to nonfarm payrolls last month — one of the highest estimates this year ahead of a jobs report.

These are some of the main moves in markets:

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