The S&P 500 experiences consecutive gains as traders exhibit optimism. Progress is being made in the trade discussions between the United States and China. The S&P 500 concluded the day with a slight uptick on Monday, coinciding with discussions between officials from President Donald Trump’s administration and their Chinese counterparts aimed at addressing trade concerns between the two economic powerhouses. The broad market index increased by 0.09%, marking its second consecutive winning session, with a closing value of 6,005.88. The Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.31%, concluding at 19,591.24.The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a slight decline of 1.11 points, concluding the session at 42,761.76.
On Monday, trade discussions took place in London between representatives from the U.S. and China. The U.S. delegation included Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett conveyed to CNBC that the U.S. aimed to secure assurances from China regarding the resumption of critical mineral exports. “The purpose of the meeting today is to ensure that they’re serious … to literally secure handshakes … and move past this issue,” Hassett stated on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Our expectation is that … immediately following the handshake, any export controls from the U.S. will be relaxed, leading to a significant release of rare earths, after which we can return to negotiating more minor issues.” Discussions are scheduled to resume on Tuesday morning, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The London meeting follows a protracted phone conversation between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that took place last week. In the previous month, the two nations reached an agreement to implement temporary tariff reductions as trade negotiations continued.
On Monday, the stock prices of various semiconductor firms experienced an uptick. Qualcomm experienced an increase exceeding 4% following the announcement of its acquisition of semiconductor firm Alphawave for $2.4 billion. Advanced Micro Devices experienced an increase of 4.8%, Texas Instruments saw a rise of 3.5%, and Nvidia shares also moved upward. Alibaba experienced an increase of 1.8%. “Investors are engaging in bullish trades today on China large caps and U.S. semiconductor stocks, which are both beneficiaries of U.S./China trade talks,” stated Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist for Blue Chip Daily Trend Report.
In a separate development, Apple shares experienced a decline of 1.2% as the company conducted its 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, where it unveiled its first redesign of the iPhone operating system since 2013. Inflation data is anticipated to emerge as a pivotal subject later in the week. The upcoming release of the consumer price index is scheduled for Wednesday, with the producer price index to follow on Thursday. Market participants will be seeking insights into the transmission of current tariff rates throughout the economy. Monday’s movements follow a period in which all three major indexes achieved their second consecutive week of gains. The S&P 500 concluded trading on Friday above the 6,000 threshold for the first occasion since February 21.