04:58 PM EDT, 06/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Equities on Wall Street ended mostly higher Monday as US officials held negotiations with China's representatives, while investors looked ahead to key inflation data due later this week.

The Nasdaq Composite added 0.3% at 19,591.2, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.1% to 6,005.9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 42,761.8. Utilities led the decliners among sectors, while consumer discretionary saw the biggest gain.

Officials from the Trump administration and Beijing met in London on Monday.

"Our expectation is that ... immediately after the handshake, any export controls from the US will be eased, and the rare earths will be released in volume, and then we can go back to negotiating smaller matters," US National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CNBC.

Last week, US President Donald Trump said that he held a phone call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Previously, the two countries accused each other of violating their preliminary trade deal.

US Treasury yields were lower, with the two-year rate falling 3.3 basis points to 4.01% and the 10-year rate losing 2.9 basis points to 4.48%.

Consumer price index data for May are due on Wednesday. A Bloomberg-polled consensus indicates monthly growth remaining unchanged at 0.2%, with the annual metric rising to 2.5% from 2.3%.

"We think May is the starting point of a sequence of increasingly strong core inflation prints," Morgan Stanley said in a note emailed Monday. "We forecast the tariff push will peak in (the third quarter) and start to fade in (the fourth quarter)."

A survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, however, showed Monday that inflation expectations eased in May.

The official producer prices report for May is scheduled to be released Thursday.

Expectations of a US recession among chief executives in the world's biggest economy declined this month, a survey by Chief Executive Group showed on Monday.

"After a season of deep tariff and trade uncertainty, America's CEOs are betting the volatility will be short-lived and that by fall businesses -- and the US economy -- will have a clearer path ahead," said Melanie Nolen, head of research at Chief Executive Group.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 1.2% at $65.36 a barrel. "Oil prices were stable as investors hoped that a potential deal in London could boost the global economic outlook and subsequently fuel demand," D.A. Davidson said in a note.

S&P 500 companies' latest quarterly results showed that earnings growth accelerated slightly compared with data from about a week ago, as the reporting cycle came to a close, Oppenheimer Asset Management said Monday.

The latest results are based on financials reported by 498 firms in the benchmark equity index, showing earnings growth of 12.7% from a year earlier. The brokerage's report released last Monday showed annual growth of 12.5%, based on financials posted by 491 companies. Ahead of the reporting season, Bloomberg's bottom-up estimates put analysts' projected earnings growth at 6.8%, according to Oppenheimer.

Baker Hughes ( BKR ) said it will sell its precision sensors and instrumentation product line to Crane (CR) for $1.15 billion as part of its efforts to optimize its portfolio for better returns. Crane shares jumped 4.7%, while Baker Hughes ( BKR ) rose 1.1%.

Edison International ( EIX ) shares slumped 8.1%, the steepest decline on the S&P 500, as Wolfe Research downgraded its rating on the stock to peer perform from outperform.

PG&E ( PCG ) followed Edison on the S&P 500, down 6.8%, as Wolfe Research cut its price target on the stock to $19 from $22.

Gold was little changed at $3,347.50 per troy ounce, while silver rose 2% to $36.88 per ounce.