Small gains at Wall Street

Consumer staples sector leads gains

U.S. stock market indexes closed mostly higher Monday, 11 June 2018 though the Dow faded to end essentially flat within the final minutes of the session. U.S. equities eked out a slim victory on Monday as investors shrugged off a contentious Group of Seven meeting and looked ahead to a historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. as well as a litany of potentially market-moving central-bank meetings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average barely ended in the green, adding 5.78 points, or less than 0.1%, at 25,322.31. The S&P 500 advanced by 2.97 points, or 0.1%, to 2,782. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 14.41 points, or 0.2%, to 7,659.93.

The advance for the Dow was enough for its fourth straight positive session. S&P's eight of the index's 11 sectors finished higher, led by gains in consumer-staples shares, while financials and utilities led declines.

The S&P 500 was up 0.3% with just 10 minutes to go, but a late bout of selling left the index with a gain of 0.1%.

Mr. Trump's meeting with Mr. Kim is scheduled to begin in Singapore at around 9:00 PM ET and will mark the first time that a sitting U.S. president has met with a North Korean leader. The two sides will attempt to come to some sort of agreement on denuclearization that'll likely require security assurances from the U.S. However, the chance of success remains unclear as officials engaged in last-minute talks ahead of the meeting are reportedly struggling to bridge the gaps on some of the most basic issues, according to The New York Times.

Separately, the annual Group of Seven summit over the weekend ended on a contentious note after President Trump decided to forego signing a joint statement in response to comments from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who vowed to retaliate against Mr. Trump's recently imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Away from international relations, investors will also begin to focus on central-bank meetings this week. The Federal Reserve, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, is expected to raise interest rates after its two-day meeting that begins Tuesday, while European Central Bank policy makers are expected to announce the timing of a reduction of its crisis-era asset-purchase initiative on Thursday.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against a half-dozen major currencies, traded less than 0.1% higher. It has climbed by nearly 4% so far this quarter, helping to put pressure on dollar-denominated commodities.

Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Monday, 11 June 2018. Gold futures finished with a modest gain on Monday, holding to a tight trading range, with an overall a wait-and-see mood taking hold ahead of the much-touted meeting over North Korea's denuclearization and a bevy of major central bank gatherings in the coming week.

August gold tacked on 50 cents to settle at $1,303.20 an ounce, holding between a low of $1,297.80 and high of $1,307. The metal had managed a small weekly return of about 0.3% last week after challenging the closely watched $1,300 line. July silver settled up 1.3% at $16.952 an ounce.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Monday, 11 June 2018 getting a lift from expected supply disruptions in Iran and Venezuela, even after a report of rising crude output from Saudi Arabia ahead of a much-anticipated producer meeting later this month.

After swinging between losses and gains, U.S. benchmark July West Texas Intermediate crude rose 36 cents, or nearly 0.6%, to settle at $66.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The commodity logged a weekly loss of 0.1% based on Friday's close for WTI, marking its third weekly fall in a row.

U.S. Treasuries ended Monday on a lower note, pushing yields higher across the curve. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note advanced two basis points to 2.96%.

Investors didn't receive any notable economic data on Monday. However, they will receive several reports on Tuesday, including the Consumer Price Index for May (consensus +0.3%), the Treasury Budget for May, and the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for May.

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