Wall Street advances as Trump cools China rhetoric

By Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit (Reuters) – Wall Street's main indexes advanced on Monday following Friday's pullback, as investors returned to risk assets after President Donald Trump's softer tone eased concerns over renewed U.S.-China trade tensions. Aiding sentiment, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Monday that Trump was on track to meet his Chinese counterpart in South Korea as the two sides de-escalate tensions over trade disputes. Tensions flared up last week after China expanded its rare earth export controls. In response, Trump on Friday said he would impose an additional 100% tariff on China's U.S.-bound exports, along with new export controls on critical U.S.-made software. The revived trade tensions sent the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to suffer their steepest weekly declines in months. However, in a more conciliatory tone over the weekend, Trump posted that "it will all be fine" and the U.S. did not want to "hurt" China. China on Sunday blamed the U.S. for the escalation but did not roll out further countermeasures. "The combination of earnings, Israel and the peace and that some sort of deal will be eventually ironed out with China in terms of trade should be a cushion for the market," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. In the Middle East, Hamas handed over the first group of the last surviving Israeli hostages, a key step in ending two years of devastating conflict in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal pushed by Trump. At 10:00 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 517.17 points, or 1.14%, to 45,996.77, the S&P 500 gained 99.81 points, or 1.52%, to 6,652.32 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 455.47 points, or 2.05%, to 22,659.90 The S&P 500 tech sector added 2.5%. Nvidia rose 3%, while Broadcom gained 9.1%. Broadcom rose to top the benchmark index after partnering with OpenAI to produce the startup's first in-house artificial intelligence processors. The gains helped the broader semiconductor index rise 4.4% and also boosted the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Financials rose 0.9% on the benchmark index. Consumer staples declined 0.4%. Consumer discretionary stocks added 1.4%, with Tesla up 2.6%. Among other stocks, JPMorgan advanced 2.5% after unveiling a $1.5 trillion strategic investment plan. Oracle gained 5.4% after at least two brokerages raised their price target on the AI cloud firm. Estee Lauder advanced 7.5% after a Goldman Sachs rating upgrade. Fastenal dropped 4.7% after the industrial supplies distributor missed third-quarter profit expectations. Investor focus will be on the earnings season that kicks off this week with major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo set to release quarterly results on Tuesday. The season will prove as a litmus test for U.S. markets and provide fresh clues on the economy at a time when major official data releases remain delayed due to a government shutdown that is currently in its 13th day. Bessent said that the shutdown was beginning to impact the economy as well as U.S. aid for farmers. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.91-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.99-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 41 new highs and 52 new lows. (Reporting by Sukriti Gupta and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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