US STOCKS-Wall Street slips from records as investors lock in year-end gains

* China trade deal signing expected soon -White House
adviser
* Tesla rival Nio jumps after strong quarterly sales
* Major indexes post biggest pct drop in about 4 weeks
* Indexes down: Dow 0.64%, S&P 0.58%, Nasdaq 0.67%

(Updates to market close)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major stock
indexes slipped from record highs on Monday as investors booked
profits from gains made this month after the United States and
China reached a trade deal.
The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq
posted their biggest one-day percentage declines in about four
weeks.
Monday brought minor updates on the U.S.-China trade
agreement. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the pact
was likely to be signed in the next week but that confirmation
would come from President Donald Trump or U.S. Trade
Representative Robert Lighthizer. A South China Morning Post report said Chinese Vice Premier
Liu He would travel to Washington later this week to sign the
deal. The news provided little impetus for U.S. stocks to extend
their steep climb, analysts said. Going into Monday, the
benchmark S&P 500 had notched record high closes in nine of the
past 11 sessions.
"Many traders and portfolio managers have reached their
targets and don't want to jeopardize their performance," said
Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial
in Newark, New Jersey. "So it's not unusual to see some
profit-taking as we get to the close of the year."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 183.12 points,
or 0.64%, to 28,462.14, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 18.73 points, or
0.58%, to 3,221.29 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
60.62 points, or 0.67%, to 8,945.99.
Communications services stocks .SPLRCL fell 1%, the
biggest percentage decline among the S&P 500's sectors.
Technology stocks .SPLRCT dropped 0.6% and weighed most
heavily on the benchmark index. Technology, up 47.5%
year-to-date, and communication services, up 30.6%, have led in
percentage gains on the S&P 500 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.
On Tuesday, stocks will trade on Wall Street for a full
session prior to Wednesday's New Year's Day break.
In a bright spot among U.S. stocks, Nio Inc NIO.N shares
surged 53.7% after the Chinese electric vehicle maker and Tesla
rival beat quarterly revenue estimates on higher demand.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.52-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 29 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.12 billion shares, below the
6.89 billion average for the full session over the last 20
trading days.