Stocks found their footing as oil eased and hopes built for a Thursday sit‑down between President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping. By late morning, the S&P 500 was up 1% with a majority of sectors in the green, the tech‑heavy Nasdaq 100 jumped 2.2%, and the Dow ticked up 0.4%.
Oil fell below $100 a barrel, helped by word from US Central Command that shipments via the Strait of Hormuz have climbed to their highest in six months. Cheaper fuel and a hint of cooling tensions helped counter some of the tech angst that crept in since Friday's close.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called weekend talks with China's top trade envoy Li Chenggang "very successful," teeing up this week's leader‑level meeting. Trump also said he is open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at the UN General Assembly in New York.
JPMorgan's Mislav Matejka and team cautioned that swings could persist "in the very short term" given the war involving Iran and the historically tricky month of September. They wrote Monday that "October will see markets realigning with the fundamental backdrop more closely, and here we see the supportive setup persisting."
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Tech sentiment was mixed. The Wall Street Journal reported Anthropic plans to delay its IPO until November, while Accenture shares advanced after the firm agreed to run safety tests on Anthropic's AI models. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said companies are rushing to shore up defenses as more powerful AI systems raise the odds of cyber intrusions. After a summer spike, the Nasdaq 100's volatility relative to the S&P 500 has eased back, suggesting tech's choppiness is normalizing.
In deal land, Paramount Skydance Corp. has come to terms with California and several other states that had sought to halt its planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., a person familiar with the situation said. Shares of both companies rose at least 8%.
The Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by a quarter point last week - the first increase since 2023 - and signaled it might raise them further to tame inflation. UBS Global Wealth Management's Ulrike Hoffmann‑Burchardi said on Bloomberg TV, "The equity market and growth is going to be so resilient that 50 basis points or maybe even 75 is not going to derail the rally."
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said Monday that bringing inflation to heel will involve some pain and that policymakers should not overlook persistent shocks. A Chicago Fed activity index is due later Monday. On the calendar this week: the manufacturing PMI arrives Wednesday, initial jobless claims come Thursday, and Friday brings the University of Michigan's readings on sentiment and inflation expectations.
Right now the tape is moving on four levers - oil, diplomacy, tech news, and the Fed. If those stay in focus, expect headlines to keep tugging at prices, especially in energy and tech. Keep an eye on this week's economic prints for clues on whether the recent momentum has legs.
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