Markets Right Now: Stocks end mixed after early rally fades

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2016, file photo, specialist Anthony Rinaldi is silhouetted on a screen at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local):

4 p.m.

Stocks struggled to a mixed finish on Wall Street as weakness in smaller-company stocks offset gains in large companies.

The market had rallied early Monday on hopes that trade tensions were easing between the U.S. and China. By afternoon, those gains were mostly gone.

Casino operators and equipment companies got a boost from a Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for states to legalize sports betting. MGM Resorts rose 1.6 per cent.

The S&P 500 rose 2 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 2,730.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 68 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 24,899. The Nasdaq climbed 8 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 7,411.

Small-company stocks fell. The Russell 2000 lost 6 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 1,600.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.99 per cent.

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11:45 a.m.

Stocks are broadly higher at midday on Wall Street as investors hope that trade tensions will ease between the U.S. and China.

U.S. companies that could benefit from a rescue of the struggling Chinese telecommunications company ZTE rallied Monday. Acacia Communications jumped 9.6 per cent.

President Donald Trump tweeted over the weekend that the U.S. could ease sanctions on ZTE.

Viacom slumped 6 per cent and CBS rose 4 per cent after CBS sued to block efforts to force the company combine with Viacom.

The S&P 500 rose 9 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,736.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 114 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 24,941. The Nasdaq climbed 32 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 7,435.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.99 per cent.

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9:35 a.m.

Stocks are opening moderately higher on Wall Street, led by gains in technology, health care and energy companies.

U.S. companies that would stand to benefit from an effort to rescue ZTE, a Chinese technology company hurt by U.S. tariffs, rose in early trading Monday. Acacia Communications jumped 13 per cent.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was up 1 per cent in early trading, and Exxon Mobil was also up 1 per cent.

The S&P 500 index rose 9 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,736.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 114 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 24,941. The Nasdaq composite climbed 32 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 7,435.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.99 per cent.