Wall Street ends flat before China talks

Stocks ended the week on a quiet note as investors awaited weekend trade talks between the U.S. and China. The Dow fell about three tenths of one percent while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended little changed.

All three main indexes finished slightly lower for the week. Representatives from Washington and Beijing are set to meet in Switzerland over the weekend to discuss tariffs. Investors hope it will mark a first step toward ratcheting down a trade war that has sparked concerns over global economic growth and resurgent inflation.

But Michael Landsberg, chief investment officer with Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management, says an agreement could be further down the road.

“I'd hope that we get a deal done with China, but realistically I don't think we're that close.”

“China's really our big issue. I think starting with the UK, it's pretty much a non-event. That was our best trading arrangement we had anyway. So, I think it was maybe just to get a win in the win column. But I think that ultimately China is kind of the big one that's overhanging the market and anticipating what's going to happen,” he added.

Markets have been volatile since Trump first announced a slew of tariffs on countries around the globe on April 2, but stocks have rebounded to near levels seen just before the duties were announced, in part due to solid corporate earnings.

Of the roughly 450 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, about 76% topped analyst expectations.

But many have also cut or withdrawn their forecasts due to the uncertain trade environment. Stocks on the move included Pinterest which gained nearly 5% after the image-sharing platform posted solid first-quarter revenue and gave a sales forecast for the current quarter above expectations. And shares of Expedia dropped more than seven percent after the online-travel platform missed quarterly revenue estimates.