(Reuters) - The S&P 500 edged higher on Monday, helped by gains in bank shares and utility Sempra Energy, as investors looked past a chaotic G7 meeting over the weekend and focused on a historic U.S.-North Korea summit.
President Donald Trump threw the G7’s efforts to show a united front into disarray after taking aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and announcing that he was backing out of the joint communique.
The markets appeared to be calm even as Trudeau spoke of retaliatory measures that Canada would take next month in response to Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
“Markets are generally overlooking negative takeaway following this weekend’s G-7 meeting,” said Peter Cecchini, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
At 10:02 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 3.86 points, or 0.02 percent, at 25,312.67, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 2.91 points, or 0.10 percent, at 2,781.94 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 13.61 points, or 0.18 percent, at 7,659.12.
The biggest driver on the S&P 500 was Sempra Energy (SRE.N), which surged 14.6 percent after two shareholders, Elliott Management and Bluescape Resources Co, recommended six new directors for the company’s board and urged a strategic review of its business.
Trump, who is in Singapore for the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the Tuesday summit could “work out very nicely” as officials from both countries met to narrow differences on how to end a nuclear stand-off on the Korean peninsula.
