The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up a 100-point gain and the S&P 500 held steady just under its all-time high on Thursday as investors checked their optimism about renewed U.S.-China trade talks.
The 30-stock lost 52.29 points to 27,094.79, as gains in Microsoft and UnitedHealth weren't enough to offset losses in Boeing and Walt Disney.
The S&P 500 finished the day unchanged from Wednesday at 3,006.79, thanks to gains in health-care and materials stocks and weakness in industrials and energy. By the closing bell, the S&P 500 was 0.7% away from its record high despite a lackluster week on Wall Street.
The Dow is down 0.4%, and the S&P is off 0.02% for the week
The NASDAQ Composite nicked up 5.49 points to 8,182.88
Still, the prospect of forward progress between the two sides appeared to buoy shares of technology companies across the board, with Advanced Micro Devices up 1.3% and Micron up 0.6%.
Software giant Microsoft, meanwhile, climbed 1.8% to an all-time high, after announcing Wednesday evening that it authorized another $40 billion for share buybacks and will raise its quarterly dividend by five cents to 51 cents per share.
"Mr. Softee," as it is known colloquially, is worth more than $1 trillion and is currently the most valuable company public company in the United States.
Equities erased their more robust morning gains after a state-backed Chinese media report said that known China hawk and Trump advisor Michael Pillsbury warned the U.S. is ready to escalate the trade war if a deal isn't struck soon.
Stocks continued to pare gains after a tabloid editor at the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China tweeted that China was in no rush to make a trade deal with the U.S.
Wall Street ended Wednesday little changed after the Fed approved a rate cut of one quarter point, but offered little for investors hoping for hints that the central bank would lower borrowing costs toward the end of 2019. Officials continued to describe the U.S. labour market as "strong" and characterized Gross Domestic Product growth as "moderate."
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury moved up, lowering yields to 1.79% from Wednesday's 1.80%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices regrouped 27 cents to $58.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dumped $9.70 to $1,506.10 U.S. an ounce.