US: Stocks end mixed on Friday

The US equity market finished session mixed after fluctuating back and forth across the unchanged line on Friday, 22 May 2020, amid renewed tensions between the US and China as the US Senate passed a bill aiming to delist Chinese companies from American exchanges and China's plans to impose a new security legislation on Hong Kong.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.96 points, or 0.04%, to end at 24,465.16. The S&P 500 - a gauge of US retirement and education savings accounts - added 6.94 points, or 0.24%, to 2,955.45. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 39.71 points, or 0.42%, to 9,324.59. For the week, Dow gained 3.3%, the S&P 500 advanced 3.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.4%.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid lingering US-China tensions. The Senate passed a bill aiming to delist Chinese companies from American exchanges. Lawmakers and the White House have repeatedly raised concerns about US-listed firms that may be under Chinese government control or receiving capital from state funds. That measure was passed after President Donald Trump said in a tweet that the incompetence of China caused this mass Worldwide killing, referring to the coronavirus.

Also, the US Commerce Department said it was adding 33 Chinese companies and other institutions to an economic blacklist for human rights violations and to address U.S. national security concerns.

The U.S. Congress was moving forward with a bill that could prevent Chinese companies from listing on U.S. exchanges. The bill would require Chinese companies to establish they are not owned or controlled by a foreign government and to submit to audits by the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which Chinese firms have thus far refused to do.

Further, weighing on sentiment was Beijing's plan to discuss a national security law for Hong Kong at the session to crack down on what it sees as subversive activity in the territory. The move drew a warning from US President Donald Trump, who said the United States would react "very strongly" against it.

Market participants expects vaccine will be developed for COVID-19, which has infected more than 5 million people and claimed 330,000 lives world-wide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

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