US stock futures climbed on Monday amid promising signs that a US-China trade deal will cap President Trump’s long-awaited meeting with China’s President Xi later this week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) moved up roughly 0.5%, or around 200 points, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) jumped 0.8%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) led gains, up 1.3%.
Wall Street is in an upbeat mood as it gears up for a pivotal week featuring the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision and a barrage of Big Tech earnings, as well as Thursday’s high-stakes meeting between Trump and Xi.
The optimism follows a banner week that saw all three major indexes close at all-time highs on Friday. Stocks are eyeing further records after US and China officials signaled that weekend talks had paved the way for a breakthrough in the trade standoff.
“I think we have a very successful framework for the leaders to discuss on Thursday,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Sunday. At the same time, Beijing hailed a “preliminary consensus” on resolving key issues, helping ease trade-war worries sparked by recent heightened tensions.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for President Xi and I think we’re going to come away with a deal,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One en route to Japan from Malaysia.
Meanwhile, markets are all but certain the Fed will cut rates on Wednesday when policymakers wrap up their two-day meeting this week. Cooler-than-expected inflation data — the US shutdown-delayed Consumer Price Index report — bolstered the case for easing on Friday.
That decision lands alongside another big potential catalyst, the arrival of quarterly earnings from the “Magnificent Seven” tech megacaps. Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), and Meta (META) are set to report third-quarter results on Wednesday, with Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) scheduled a day later.
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