Markets Edge Higher as Trump Lands in Beijing for Xi Summit

Yahoo! Finance Canada reported early Thursday that US equity futures and crude oil prices moved modestly higher as global markets braced for the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing.

Futures Tick Up Ahead of High-Stakes Meeting

Dow Jones futures gained around 0.2% in overnight trading. S&P 500 futures added roughly 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 contracts rose close to 0.5%. Investors are watching the two-day summit closely. President Donald Trump has touched down in Beijing and is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday morning. Several top US chief executives traveled with the president. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Apple CEO Tim Cook are all part of the delegation. Artificial intelligence is expected to feature prominently on the agenda, alongside trade.

Background: Records, Earnings, and a New Fed Chair

Wednesday’s session was already eventful before futures opened. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at fresh record highs, driven by a broad rally in technology shares. That came despite a hotter-than-expected US producer price reading for April, which stoked renewed inflation concerns. Separately, the Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, ending months of speculation over leadership at the central bank. After the closing bell, Cisco shares surged following a quarterly earnings beat. The networking giant also unveiled an AI-focused restructuring that will eliminate roughly 4,000 positions.

Oil Steadies as Iran War Clouds the Summit

West Texas Intermediate crude held near $101 a barrel, steadying after a 1.1% drop in the prior session. Brent crude closed just below $106. The ongoing US-Iran war is casting a long shadow over the Beijing talks. Global oil inventories have been shrinking at a record rate since hostilities began in late February. The International Energy Agency has warned the market will remain severely undersupplied through at least October. Flows through the Strait of Hormuz fell by nearly 6 million barrels per day in the first quarter alone. Ahead of the summit, Washington also sanctioned additional entities linked to Iranian crude sales to China, Beijing’s largest oil supplier. Trump told reporters this week that trade will dominate the agenda in Beijing rather than the Middle East conflict.

What to Watch Thursday

Earnings reports from Applied Materials and Klarna Group are due later in the session. Markets will parse any joint statements or communiques from the Trump-Xi meeting for signals on tariffs and technology export controls.

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