US stock futures advanced on Thursday as President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping opened a two-day summit in Beijing, fueling optimism for eased trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Dow futures jumped 260 points (0.41%), S&P 500 futures added 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.3%, building on Wednesday’s record closes for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.
The rally was anchored by technology stocks, with Nvidia reaching a new all-time high after CEO Jensen Huang joined Trump’s delegation to China alongside Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook. The presence of these high-profile executives made artificial intelligence a central theme of the visit. Trump remarked that the US–China relationship would “be better than ever before,” and Xi told American CEOs that China’s business door will “open wider.”
The hopeful tone offset a hotter‑than‑expected US producer price inflation report. April PPI rose 6.0% year‑on‑year and 1.4% monthly, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates restrictive. Yields on the 10‑year Treasury note eased slightly to 4.46%, while the dollar held steady. Oil prices also edged up, with Brent crude at $106.09 and WTI at $101.40, as disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz persisted. Trump and Xi agreed on the need to keep the key shipping lane open.
On the earnings front, Cisco shares surged after beating quarterly estimates and announcing an AI‑focused restructuring that will cut around 4,000 jobs. Markets also awaited reports from Applied Materials and Klarna Group. Deutsche Bank analyst Jim Reid highlighted the tech mega‑caps and the summit as dominant drivers of the positive market sentiment.
