LIVE MARKETS-Just another muddled Monday

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

JUST ANOTHER MUDDLED MONDAY

Wall Street ended mixed on Monday as investors watched a fresh round of U.S.-China negotiations aimed at mending a trade rift that has rattled financial markets for much of the year.

Top officials from both countries have kicked off discussions at London's Lancaster House, looking to get back on track with a preliminary trade agreement struck last month that had briefly cooled tensions between the world's largest economies.

After a muted open, indecisive trade persisted into midday, but U.S. stocks gained some traction in afternoon trade.

By the close, the Nasdaq .IXIC ended modestly green, the S&P 500 .SPX edged up, and the Dow .DJI finished flat.

A majority of S&P 500 sectors ended red. Utilities .SPLRCU, which lost about 0.7%, was the weakest group. Consumer discretionary .SPLRCD led gainers, with a 1.1% advance.

Chip stocks .SOX were among outperformers on the day. In fact, the SOX posted its highest close since February 20.

Apple AAPL.O dipped just over 1% as the iPhone maker kicked off the company's annual software developer conference.

Of note, the S&P 500 index's daily high-to-low range as a percentage of the prior day's close was just 0.452%, making it the fourth tightest reading so far this year. (Last Wednesday was the third smallest reading).

With this, daily historical volatility continues to collapse, suggesting the market may be ripe for a next big move. Amid trade negotiations, and with inflation data due mid-week, there may be no shortage of potential catalysts to spark some significant action this week.

In any event, on Monday, the SPX ended down just 2.25% from its February 19 record close, while the IXIC finished down 2.89% from its December 16 record close. The DJI ended down 5% from its December 4 record close.

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood just shortly after 4 p.m. ET:

(Terence Gabriel)

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

US EARNINGS REVISIONS SHOW POSITIVE TREND, SAYS MORGAN STANLEY CLICK HERE

RISK-ASSET TRAIN CHUGGING ALONG, BUT IS THE END OF THE LINE IN SIGHT? CLICK HERE

AFTER A BRIEF, WORRY-DRIVEN RETREAT, INFLATION-WARY CONSUMERS CHARGE IT CLICK HERE

S&P 500 FLAT, WITH US-CHINA TRADE TALKS IN FOCUS, WWDC AHEAD CLICK HERE

S&P 500 INDEX: STRIKING DISTANCE CLICK HERE

U.S. BUYBACK YIELD VS EUROPE NARROWS, DIVIDEND YIELD GAP WIDENING - JPM CLICK HERE

WHY EUROPE'S TELCOS ARE WINNING (IT'S NOT EARNINGS) CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN STOCKS HOVER AROUND FLAT, DEFENCE NAMES DRAG CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES DOWN DESPITE US-CHINA TALK HOPES CLICK HERE

MARKETS PIN HOPES ON LONDON TRADE TALKS CLICK HERE