United States stock futures advanced on Sunday night (Monday AEDT) as investors prepared for a busy week of corporate earnings and key inflation data, with optimism building around easing U.S.-China trade tensions and expectations of further Federal Reserve policy support.
By 9:50 am AEDT (10:50 pm GMT), Dow Jones futures and S&P 500 futures added 0.2% apiece, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.3%.
Investor sentiment improved after The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump had recently exempted dozens of products from reciprocal tariffs and was considering hundreds more.
The move, reflecting a shift within the administration toward easing duties on goods not produced domestically, reinforced expectations that tariff pressure could ease in the months ahead.
The positive tone follows a volatile week on Wall Street, where stocks managed to close higher despite persistent trade tensions with China, a sell-off in regional banks, and a pullback in leading artificial intelligence names.
A stronger-than-expected start to third-quarter earnings season, coupled with growing expectations for a quarter-point Fed rate cut later this month, has helped underpin the rally.
On Friday, all three major U.S. benchmarks edged higher after Trump struck a conciliatory tone on trade, expressing optimism about reaching a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their expected meeting later this month in South Korea.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also told reporters that “things have de-escalated” with China and confirmed plans to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the coming week. His comments fuelled speculation that Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on Chinese imports, slated to take effect on 1 November, could be postponed or scrapped entirely.
Earlier in the week, traders had grappled with renewed credit concerns following disclosures from Zions Bancorporation and Western Alliance of losses tied to bad loans.
The revelations initially sparked a broad sell-off in financial stocks before the sector rebounded on Friday as investors deemed the risks contained.
Meanwhile, the ongoing U.S. government shutdown—now entering its fourth week—continues to draw investor attention.
Negotiations between the White House and congressional leaders remain stalled over disagreements surrounding federal healthcare subsidies, prolonging uncertainty over economic data flow.
This week, attention turns to a packed corporate earnings calendar featuring many of the market’s most influential names.
Monday: W.R. Berkley Corporation, Steel Dynamics
Tuesday: Netflix, GE Aerospace, Coca-Cola, Philip Morris International, RTX, Texas Instruments, Danaher, Capital One
Wednesday: Tesla, SAP, IBM, Thermo Fisher Scientific, AT&T, Lam Research, GE Vernova, Amphenol
Thursday: T-Mobile, Intel, Union Pacific, Honeywell, Blackstone, Newmont, Norfolk Southern
Friday: Procter & Gamble, Sanofi, HCA Healthcare, General Dynamics
Beyond earnings, the September consumer price index (CPI) report - due during Friday's U.S. session -will be a key focal point for traders, with markets expecting the data to show inflation remains elevated.
