U.S. Stock Indexes Trim Gains Despite Bullish Move In China

U.S. stock indexes today trimmed gains in late morning trade Monday, unable to borrow much from the Shanghai composite's 2.47% thrust. China's stock market closed at the day's high in heavy volume. The Shanghai exchange is 13 hours ahead of Wall Street. The South China Morning Post and CNBC identified three possible catalysts for China's big thrust Monday. First, rumors swirled last week that China was anxious to finalize a trade deal with the U.S. Second, traders in China are anticipating some strong earnings reports this week. Bloomberg News noted that 371 mainland Chinese companies will report earnings this week. Third, the Shanghai composite began accepting applications Monday for technology start-ups. Meanwhile, the U.S. stock indexes were restrained. The Nasdaq was up less than 0.1%, while the large cap S&P 500 and small cap Russell 2000 added 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded near breakeven.