Major stock indexes in Canada and the U.S. slipped from record highs on Monday as investors booked profits from gains made this month after the United States and China reached a trade deal.
The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq posted their biggest one-day percentage declines in about four weeks.
Monday brought minor updates on the U.S.-China trade agreement. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the pact was likely to be signed in the next week but that confirmation would come from President Donald Trump or U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
A South China Morning Post report said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He would travel to Washington later this week to sign the deal.
The news provided little impetus for U.S. stocks to extend their steep climb, analysts said. Going into Monday, the benchmark S&P 500 had notched record high closes in nine of the past 11 sessions.
“Many traders and portfolio managers have reached their targets and don’t want to jeopardize their performance,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey. “So it’s not unusual to see some profit-taking as we get to the close of the year.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 183.12 points, or 0.64%, to 28,462.14, the S&P 500 lost 18.73 points, or 0.58%, to 3,221.29 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 60.62 points, or 0.67%, to 8,945.99.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 0.41%, or 69.65 points, at 17,098.56. While most sectors were lower, energy and materials - thanks to the gold sector - managed to eke out minor gains.
Shares in U.S. satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies Inc. closed up nearly 15 per cent after the company announced it would sell its Canadian space robotics business to a consortium led by Northern Private Capital for C$1 billion ($765 million), in a bid to ease its debt.
In the U.S., communications services stocks fell 1%, the biggest percentage decline among the S&P 500’s sectors. Technology stocks dropped 0.6% and weighed most heavily on the benchmark index. Technology, up 47.5% year-to-date, and communication services, up 30.6%, have led in percentage gains on the S&P 500 this year.
On Tuesday, stocks will trade on Wall Street for a full session prior to Wednesday’s New Year’s Day break.
In a bright spot among U.S. stocks, Nio Inc shares surged 53.7% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker and Tesla rival beat quarterly revenue estimates on higher demand.
Read more: Market movers: Stocks seeing action Monday - and why
Reuters, with files from Globe and Mail staff