Stocks add small gain to record close

U.S. stocks eked out a gain to claim a fresh closing record, while Treasury yields climbed as investors assessed the latest developments from the Trump administration’s trade policies.

The S&P 500 fluctuated throughout the day, rising past 2,900 for the first time before slipping back below that level. Technology stocks paced the advance, giving the Nasdaq indexes new records. Rate-sensitive shares retreated as the 10year Treasury yield moved toward 2.90 percent. The Mexican peso failed to hold onto Monday’s gains as investors clamored for details and clarity on where a new trade agreement with the U.S. leaves Canada.

Carmakers and miners were the biggest winners in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Equities in Japan rose while those in China slipped. The yuan climbed after the country’s central bank strengthened the daily fixing against the greenback by the most in more than 14 months.

Optimism around the U.S.-Mexico deal is helping shift the news agenda in markets in the wake of Trump’s legal woes last week, while the Federal Reserve’s outlook has also boosted sentiment. Gains for risk assets remain fragile, however, as hopes for a similar trade breakthrough between America and China fade and a host of threats remain, from U.S. relations with Russia and North Korea to Chinese growth prospects.

“On a broad sense, if markets were worried about trade tensions and trade talks escalating into fullblown wars at least this is one sign that there is a cooling off period and that some parts of the global trade space will still be connected and as free markets would hope,” said Nandini Ramakrishnan, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “Another good example: European discussions this summer came down to a very conciliatory, almost non-issue.”