Wall Street Flat As Trade Talks Continue

Wall Street stocks had a split finish on Thursday as investors looked for a possible outcome of grinding US-China trade negotiations, which failed to materialise.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 per cent to 26,385, its highest level since October 9.

Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent, rising to 2,879 but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was essentially flat, falling less than 0.1 per cent to 7,892.

In Washington, White House officials on Thursday stoked anticipation that President Donald Trump could announce the date for a summit with his President Xi Jinping to finalise a trade agreement, thus ending their nine-month trade war.

After the close, Trump met Beijing's trade envoy Liu He and announced the fate of any deal would likely be known in four weeks.

Gregori Volokhine of Meeschaert Financial Services told AFP stocks had fluctuated with hopes over the trade talks.

"Fundamentally, this is what drove the markets," he said. (AFP)