Government Shutdown and Trade Talks Still in Limbo but Market Up Slightly The stock market didn't seem overly concerned that the U.S. Congress is still scrambling to finish legislation and avoid another government shutdown.

Relatively positive signals on the U.S.-China trade talks helped the major indexes post small gains. Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Beijing and yesterday President Trump said that he would consider extending the Mar. one deadline for new tariffs to take effect in order to close a trade deal with China.

The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were up 0.46 percent and 0.3 percent respectively while the Nasdaq Composite index rose just 0.08 percent. The BIZ Experiences Index™ closed the day down 0.02 percent.

TripAdvisor Inc. got waylaid by weak financial results it reported this morning. The online travel consultant narrowly beat sales estimates but missed on earnings. Hotel segment revenues fell two percent in the quarter and the company said it expected further weakness in the segment this year. The stock was down 5.75 percent -- the biggest decline on the BIZ Experiences Index™ today.

The rest of the technology sector was also generally weak. Twitter had the biggest gain, rising 2.4 percent after an SEC disclosure yesterday revealed that white-shoe Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley owned a 5.6 percent stake in the company. That makes it the second biggest shareholder in the company after Vanguard Group. Other gains in the tech sector included chip-maker NVIDIA Corp. (1.13 percent), and Akamai Technologies, (1.5 percent). Netflix, (-2.28 percent), and salesforce.com, (-1.47 percent) had notable declines.

Loews Corp. continued to bounce back from the more than six percent drop it had on Monday after reporting weak earnings. The conglomerate had a loss in the fourth quarter due to larger catastrophe losses in its insurance subsidiary CNA Financial. The stock was up 1.85 percent today after a more than three percent gain yesterday. Specialty retailer Bed Bath & Beyond was also up again today. It rose 2.78 percent -- the biggest gain on the BIZ Experiences Index™ today -- after a 3.06 percent jump yesterday.

Other gains on the index included asset manager Franklin Resources, (1.51 percent), and cosmetics-maker Estee Lauder Companies, (1.48 percent).

Healthcare IT company Cerner Corp. had the second biggest loss on the BIZ Experiences Index™ today, dropping 3.21 percent. In a call with Wall Street analysts this morning, company management cut revenue growth guidance through 2023 substantially. The stock is still up 8.6 percent this year, but down 8.9 percent in the last twelve months.

Clothing-maker Ralph Lauren Corp. (-2.7 percent), was down sharply and Under Armour Inc. up nearly seven percent yesterday on strong earnings, fell 1.94 percent today.

The BIZ Experiences Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by BIZ Experiencess. The BIZ Experiencesial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on ;BIZ Experiences.com.