Wall Street closed mixed, DJIA bucks the trend again

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA lost 55 points, or 0.2%, to finish near 25,053.
• S&P 500 added less than 0.1% to finish near 2,710.
• The Nasdaq Composite added 0.1% to end near 7,308. 

Stocks were mixed on Monday with a foggy outlook with respect to lowe level talks that got underway in Beijing today. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are scheduled to join the talks on Thursday and Friday. 

Trade frictions between the US and China have not been resolved and this is keeping a lid on the index. While the Fed remains favourable to stocks, in general, this has also created a bid in EM equity flows which is likely to strip the top flight indexes of some cash. However, should the dollar continue on its winning streak, into its eighth day of consecutive gains, EM's are likely to feel the pinch. A [ositive outcome from trade negotiations would potentially give the stock markets an additional boost on the kneejerk, but a lot of that expectation has already been priced in. 

DJIA levels

In the meantime, the technical indicators for the DJIA remain mixed and the index stays in a consolidation range, hovering above the 200- D SMA and above the 61.8% Fibo level. However, a break of the moving averages on the downside opens the 50% Fibo downside target located at 24215 meeting the 21st Jan fractal lows of 24243. On the upside and above the trend reversal doji and recent peek, a break to the Sep lows and the 76.4% Fibo of the Sep decline at 25668 could be on the cards.