US STOCKS-Wall St ekes out gains as investors await U.S.-China trade clarity

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* U.S. grants 90-day extension to Huawei
* Trade in focus after Huawei extension
* Coty gains on stake in Kylie Jenner's businesses
* Indexes up: Dow 0.11%, S&P 0.05%, Nasdaq 0.11%

(Updates to close, adds commentary)
By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street's three main
indexes on Monday barely extended the previous session's closing
records as investors waited for concrete progress on U.S.-China
trade relations after mixed headlines.
The market appeared to welcome Washington's extension for
U.S. companies to do business with Huawei after the Chinese
telecommunications equipment maker was put on a U.S. blacklist
in May. But investors were concerned about a CNBC report that the
mood in Beijing over the potential for a trade deal was
pessimistic due to President Donald Trump's reluctance to roll
back tariffs. This was after Chinese state media said on Saturday that the
two sides had "constructive" trade talks, after White House
economic adviser Larry Kudlow said they were close to a deal.
"Markets are very focused on trade because it's still not
clear whether or not the U.S. and China can reach an agreement.
If it was easy to reach an agreement they would've done so many
months ago," said David Lefkowitz, senior equity strategist at
UBS Global Wealth Management.
"At least for today there's not a lot in terms of market
moving data or information ... There's no reason to buy or sell
aggressively."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 31.33 points,
or 0.11%, to 28,036.22, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.57 points,
or 0.05%, to 3,122.03 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
9.11 points, or 0.11%, to 8,549.94.
"Investors are being patient because they don't want to
chase new all-time highs too far until they have clarity on
trade," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at
JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher,
with defensives such as consumer staples .SPLRCS and real
estate .SPLRCR leading the percentage gains.
The energy sector .SPNY was the biggest percentage loser
dropping 1.33% as oil prices fell. O/R
Trading was relatively slow with 6.55 billion shares
changing hands on U.S. exchanges compared with the 6.93 billion
average in the last 20 sessions.
"We're sort of in a vacuum of information and news. That's
why the market is very sensitive to what's happening on the
trade front," said Lefkowitz of UBS, noting that the earnings
season was mostly done.
Later this week, the Federal Reserve will release minutes
from its latest policy meeting, where the central bank cut
interest rates for the third time this year. Also ahead are
results from U.S. retailers, including Home Depot Inc HD.N ,
Kohl's Corp KSS.N and Target Corp TGT.N .
Coty Inc COTY.N gained 2.60% after the cosmetics maker
said it would pay $600 million for a majority stake in Kylie
Jenner's make-up and skincare businesses. The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 103 new highs and 126 new lows.