US STOCKS-Wall Street's record rally loses steam on profit-taking

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* China trade deal signing expected soon - White House
adviser
* Tesla rival Nio jumps after strong quarterly sales
* Energy sector up on higher oil prices
* Dow Jones on track for worst day in three weeks
* Indexes down: Dow 0.32%, S&P 0.34% , Nasdaq 0.48%

(Updates comment, prices)
By Manas Mishra
Dec 30 (Reuters) - U.S stock indexes slipped from record
highs on Monday as investors booked profits on the penultimate
day of the decade after optimism over improving U.S.-China trade
relations fueled a Wall Street rally this month.
White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday the
pact was likely to be signed in the next week, but added that
confirmation would come from President Donald Trump or the U.S.
Trade Representative. A South China Morning Post report earlier said Chinese Vice
Premier Liu He would travel to Washington later this week to
sign the deal. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX closed at all-time highs in
nine of the past 11 sessions, also powered by improving global
sentiment and a loose monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
But with no other major updates on trade expected before the
new year and thin trading volumes in a holiday-shortened week,
some analysts expect the record run to lose steam further.
"There's just not a whole lot going on. Traders are trying
to think about how they want to position for next year," said
Sahak Manuelian, head of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
The Nasdaq fell for the second straight session, after
having snapped an 11 session winning streak on Friday.
Tech stocks largely led the drop in the S&P 500, with
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O weighing on the sector. Information
technology stocks were the best performing among the 11 S&P 500
subsectors this year.
"It is ... not uncommon for the leading sectors to pull back
first when people start to sell because if it is an
outperformer, then it warrants a lot more downside risk," said
Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for
Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
Energy was one of the two S&P 500 sectors in the black,
tracking higher oil prices. O/R
At 12:34 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 92.76 points, or 0.32%, at 28,552.50, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 10.98 points, or 0.34%, at 3,229.04. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 43.57 points, or 0.48%, at 8,963.05.
Nio Inc NIO.N soared 60.5% after the Tesla rival beat
quarterly revenue estimates on higher demand for its electric
vehicles. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.14-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.20-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 12 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 56 new highs and 22 new lows.