Wall Street dips as investors await US-China trade progress

"The fulcrum of this optimism see-saw is the prospects for the phase 1 trade agreement. Investors are pulling petals from a daisy saying, 'It'll happen this year, it won't,'" said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York.

NEW YORK: US stock indexes moved slightly lower on Thursday as investors moved to the sidelines with mixed messages and no concrete signs of progress on U.S.-China relations.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills to back protesters in Hong Kong and send a warning to China about human rights, a measure that angered Beijing.