Wall Street starts the day flat as investors focus on Trump-Xi meeting

• Energy slides in early trade amid a fresh crude oil sell-off.
• Defensive stocks stay strong.
• Leaders sign the USMCA agreement on Friday.

Major equity indexes in the United States were little changed at the opening bell as investors move to the sidelines before US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines at the G20 summit in Argentina. As of writing, The Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.2% on the day while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were virtually unchanged.

With the barrel of West Texas Intermediate falling below the critical $50 mark in the last hour, the S&P 500 Energy Index started the last day of the week under pressure and was last seen losing 1.3%.

On the other hand, the so-called defensive stocks seem to be finding demand ahead of this weekend’s events with the S&P 500 Real Estate and Utilities indexes gaining 0.55% and 0.37%, respectively. Meanwhile, market sentiment remains neutral in the session despite the fact that the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have signed the new USMCA agreement to replace NAFTA: