Stocks looked poised to rally on Monday as signs of easing trade tensions between the United States and China soothed investors, helping the market overcome some of its fears about bad loans affecting the banking sector.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 118 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% and contracts linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 added 0.5%.
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will “do well with China,” signaling that trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies are easing ahead of a meeting between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng in Malaysia this week. Trump on Sunday cited rare earths, fentanyl and soy as the top issues he would like to see addressed.
The market is hopeful that Beijing and Washington will be able to negotiate some sort of trade deal before November 1, when U.S. tariffs are expected to increase significantly. Stocks opened in the red on Friday on investor concerns about the health of regional banks, but major indexes reversed direction on strong earnings and positive business news.
Consumer inflation data due Friday could also move the market this week. This will likely be some of the last data the Federal Reserve gets before its Oct. 29 policy meeting, with most labor market numbers still on hold due to the ongoing government shutdown, which just entered its third full week.
Profits will also be key, with soft drink maker Coca-Cola, video streamer Netflix and electric car maker Tesla among 80 S&P 500 companies expected to report results over the next five days.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was steady at 4.01% on Monday. The U.S. dollar climbed 0.1% against a weighted basket of its peers, and gold futures rose 1.4% to $4,273 an ounce.
