Wall St closes near flat with focus on US-China talks

US stocks ended the week on a quiet note on Friday after oscillating between slight gains and declines, as investors gauged President Donald Trump's comments on Chinese tariffs ahead of weekend trade talks between the two countries.

Wall Street's main indexes finished slightly lower for the week.

Trump said Beijing should open its market to the US and that setting 80% tariffs on Chinese goods "seems right." The comments marked his first specific suggestion in a change for the levies, currently at 145%.

Representatives from the two economic powerhouses are 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.

"China is the main focus, and that is the one where the consequences are largest because of long-term trade practices that really need to be improved," said Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise in Troy, Michigan.

"It could go either way, because at least they're in the same room together. So regardless of whether we see that as just to get to know you a little bit better or to make some progress on an actual deal remains to be seen, but it could go either way."

While many saw the discussions this weekend as being of a more preliminary nature, Trump said on Thursday he expects substantive talks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 119.07 points, or 0.29%, to 41,249.38, the S&P 500 lost 4.03 points, or 0.07%, to 5,659.91 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.78 points, or flat, to 17,928.92.

For the week, the S&P 500 fell 0.47%, the Nasdaq declined 0.27%, and the Dow fell 0.16%.

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 450 S&P 500 companies that reported earnings through Friday morning, about 76% topped analyst expectations. But many have also cut or withdrawn their forecasts due to the uncertain trade environment.

On Thursday, Wall Street's main indexes closed higher as investors cheered a trade deal struck between Britain and the US, the first of its kind since Trump announced a 90-day pause to his tariffs. However, a 10% baseline tariff on goods imported from the UK into the US remained in place.

Reuters reported India had offered to slash its tariff gap with the US to less than 4% from nearly 13% now, in exchange for an exemption from Trump's tariffs, according to sources.

Energy climbed 1.1% and led gains among the 11 S&P 500 sectors as oil prices rose on optimism ahead of the talks while healthcare fell 1.1% as the worst performer on the session.

Days after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, Fed policymakers on Friday pointed to increasing economic risks from Trump's tariffs, echoing comments from Chair Jerome Powell at the meeting earlier this week.

Expedia slumped 7.3% after the online travel platform missed quarterly revenue estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the NYSE while declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.06-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and three new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 97 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 16.03 billion shares, compared with the 16.47 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.