Shares were little changed in Friday morning trade as regional bank shares stabilized after a sell-off and the University of Michigan survey showed gloomy consumer sentiment.
Regional banks, including PacWest, rallied slightly premarket before giving back much of those gains in morning trade.
Meanwhile, investors wondered if tensions between the US and China might ease following this week’s talks between senior officials.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday and Thursday as Washington and Beijing try to prevent ties from further deteriorating.
“From a market perspective, that actually helps ease some of the pressure,” said Shaniel Ramjee, multi-asset fund manager at Pictet Asset Management. “We believe this meeting is an attempt to ease some of those tensions.”
In recent market actions:
- The main indices remained unchanged. The S&P 500 was flat, the Dow Industrials was up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was slightly down 0.2%
- Consumer sentiment plummeted. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 57.7, giving up about half of its rally from an all-time low hit last year.
- Tesla shares rose. The electric vehicle maker rose 2.7% after Elon Musk announced he had hired a new CEO for Twitter, easing concerns his attention was divided
- Shares in regional banks stabilized. PacWest rose 0.5% after plummeting nearly 23% on Thursday. Western Alliance fell 0.5%
- Bond yields hardly changed. The benchmark 10-year government bond yield hit 3.397%, up from 3.396% at the close.
Global equity markets were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% and the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4%.
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