US stock futures climbed on Monday amid rising hopes for a US-China trade deal ahead of a a long-awaited meeting between President Trump and China’s President Xi.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) moved up 0.5%, or around 250 points, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) jumped 0.7%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) led gains, up 1%.
Wall Street is in an upbeat mood as it gears up for a pivotal week featuring the Federal Reserve’s expected interest-rate cut and a barrage of Big Tech earnings, as well as Trump’s visit to Asia.
The optimism follows a banner week that saw all three major indexes close at record highs on Friday. The Dow jumped 472 points to finish above 47,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 added 0.8% to creep closer to the 6,800 level, while the Nasdaq Composite rose over 1%.
The high-stakes meeting between Trump and Xi on Thursday is in high focus, following heightened tensions between their two countries in recent weeks.
Weekend talks are seen as paving the way for a breakthrough in the US-China standoff, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said, “I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework” for a broader trade deal. Beijing also hailed the “preliminary consensus” reached during the weekend talks, helping ease worries about a deeper trade war.
Meanswhile, markets are all but certain the Fed will lower rates when it meets this week, after cooler-than-expected inflation data — the US shutdown-delayed Consumer Price Index report — bolstered the case for easing.
On the earnings front, the spotlight shifts to Silicon Valley this week. Several of the “Magnificent Seven,” including Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta (META) are set to report third-quarter results.
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