US STOCKS-Wall Street steadies as U.S., China announce trade deal

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* Major indexes hit record highs during session
* U.S.-China announce Phase One trade deal
* Adobe rises after results, Broadcom falls
* Indexes up: Dow 0.03%, S&P 500 0.05%, Nasdaq 0.25%

(Updates with mid afternoon trading)
By Lewis Krauskopf
Dec 13 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow industrials were
little changed on Friday after hitting record highs earlier in
the session, as the United States and China announced an initial
trade agreement, cooling tensions that have rattled markets.
The S&P 500 technology sector .SPLRCT and the tech-heavy
Nasdaq .IXIC were solidly in positive territory, with gains in
Apple Inc AAPL.O providing a boost.
Trading was choppy following announcement of the agreement,
which reduces some U.S. tariffs in exchange for increased
Chinese purchases of American farm goods. The U.S. has agreed to
suspend tariffs on $160 billion in Chinese goods that were due
to take effect on Dec. 15, a deadline that had been closely
watched by investors. "The risk of trade (dispute) escalation has been averted for
now, and that's a positive," said Sunitha Thomas, regional
portfolio advisor at Northern Trust Wealth Management in
Chicago.
Investors were also digesting Prime Minister Boris Johnson's
commanding victory in the British election, which could bring
more clarity to the country's planned exit from the European
Union. "We got confirmation today that two major risks that have
been weighing on the market all year have been lifted, for now
at least," Thomas said.
"The market is not up more because we have had some of the
rally coming into it, and I think there is now a recognition
that there needs to be policy follow through on the negotiation
of Brexit and also what really the details of this deal between
China and the U.S. are," Thomas said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 9.15 points, or
0.03%, to 28,141.2, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.68 points, or
0.05%, to 3,170.25 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 22.07
points, or 0.25%, to 8,739.39.
Utilities .SPLRCU led gains among the S&P 500 sectors
along with tech, while energy .SPNY and materials .SPLRCM
lagged.
Improving sentiment about trade tensions, interest rate cuts
from the U.S. Federal Reserve and encouraging economic data have
fueled records for the major U.S. stock indexes. The benchmark
S&P 500 has gained 26% so far in 2019.
Earlier this week, the Fed signaled borrowing costs will not
change anytime soon. In company news, Adobe Inc ADBE.O shares rose 4.5% after
it beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter revenue and
profit. Broadcom Inc AVGO.O shares dropped 4.1% after the company
provided a lukewarm revenue forecast for 2020. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.07-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.20-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 75 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 105 new highs and 40 new lows.

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