Stock futures rise as oil falls before Trump-Xi summit
U.S. stock futures were on the rise Monday, buoyed by a slide in oil prices, as investors sought to shake off the prior week's losses and turned their attention to an anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 407 points, or 0.8%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.7% and Nasdaq-100 futures added 1.1%. For the week just ended, the Dow shed 1.7%, marking its steepest seven-day decline since March, according to CNBC . The S&P 500 finished fractionally lower, off roughly 0.1%, while the Nasdaq stood apart from the selling with a 0.7% advance.
Falling oil prices were a key driver of Monday's early gains. West Texas Intermediate crude fell more than 3% to $97.09 a barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, lost more than 3% to hover near $101, putting it on course for a fourth consecutive daily decline. Government bond yields moved lower as well, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury note settling at 4.957%, a drop of more than 3 basis points.
Oil prices began pulling back after Iran-backed Houthi forces claimed a missile and drone strike on Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The U.S. State Department then issued an advisory urging Americans to think twice before visiting the Middle East, even as Washington and Tehran traded escalating threats. Despite the disruptions, JPMorgan analysts noted that oil flows "remain surprisingly strong," according to CNBC.
Semiconductors and other AI-linked shares powered the Nasdaq-100's premarket advance. Sunday's preliminary discussions in New York between U.S. and Chinese officials centered heavily on artificial intelligence in the run-up to Xi Jinping's U.S. visit, according to The Wall Street Journal , with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent citing talks around a framework for alerting each side to AI incidents posing national-security risks.
The agenda for the Trump-Xi meeting is expected to span tariffs, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence alongside broader economic concerns, and the talks carry extra significance in the wake of the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate increase in three years, a move prompted by persistent inflation and Treasury yields hovering close to 5%.
LPL Financial chief economist Jeffrey Roach argued that the geopolitical tensions stoking crude prices are simultaneously pushing the Fed toward tighter policy and squeezing Chinese refiners. Roach added that Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's committee "has conditioned its inflation outlook on oil markets settling down," according to CNBC.
