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The major indices closed mixed on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted gains while the S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Composite ended fractionally in the red. Moves were mixed on rising optimism around U.S.-China trade relations. Tuesday, indices ended trading with mixed results as the Dow and S&P 500 closed slightly higher while the NASDAQ shed 0.04%. The market stepped up mid-week after China said it would allow some exemptions to additional tariffs on U.S. imports as the two sides prepare to resume trade talks. In economic news, producer prices ticked up in August. The core Producer Price Index, which excludes food and energy, jumped 2.3% year over year, versus consensus estimates of a 2.2% gain. The upward climb continued Thursday following a Bloomberg report that President Trump's advisers were considering an interim deal with China that would delay tariffs. On another note, crude oil dipped. For the session, West Texas Intermediate crude shed $0.76 to settle at $54.99 a barrel. Additionally, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its "Short-Term Energy Outlook" that it expects oil demand to increase by only 0.9 million barrels per day in 2019. Results were mixed again on Friday with the Dow closing higher while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded fractionally lower.