US STOCKS-Wall St nudge up as investors await U.S.-China trade clarity

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* U.S. grants 90-day extension to Huawei
* HP dips after rejecting Xerox's $33.5 bln bid
* Coty gains on stake in Kylie Jenner's businesses
* Indexes up: Dow 0.12%, S&P 0.1%, Nasdaq 0.18%

(Updates to late afternoon, adds commentary, changes byline,
adds New York dateline)
By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were
very slightly higher on Monday after closing at records on
Friday and investors digested mixed headlines on U.S.-China
trade relations.
The market appeared to welcome Washington's grant of an
extension for U.S. companies to do business with Huawei since
the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker was put on a U.S.
blacklist in May. But also on investors minds was a CNBC report that the mood
about a potential trade deal was pessimistic in Beijing 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 held "constructive" trade talks, days after White
House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said they were close to a
deal. "We keep getting told we have this deal and it has yet to be
finalized and then you get these reports going in the other
direction," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at
JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut. "Investors are being
patient because they don't want to chase new all times highs too
far until they have clarity on trade."
At 2:33 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 33.4 points, or 0.12%, to 28,038.29, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 3.26 points, or 0.10%, to 3,123.72 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC added 15.72 points, or 0.18%, to 8,556.55.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher,
with defensives such as utilities .SPLRCU , real estate
.SPLRCR and consumer staples .SPLRCS , also known as bond
proxies due to their high dividend yields, leading the
percentage gains.
The energy sector .SPNY was the biggest percentage loser
dropping 1.32% as oil prices fell. O/R
Later this week, investors will turn their attention to
minutes from the Federal Reserve's 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 .
Shares of HP Inc HPQ.N fell 1.51% after the company
rebuffed a $33.5 billion offer from Xerox Holdings Corp XRX.N
and said it was open to exploring a bid for the
latter. Coty Inc COTY.N gained 2.18% 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 37 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 95 new highs and 115 new lows.