2025 -Wall Street futures gained on Monday, kicking off November on firmer ground, on the back of optimism around AI demand and a U.S.-China trade truce.
The benchmark S&P 500 posted its sixth consecutive monthly gain in October, its longest such streak in four years, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq logged its longest streak since January 2018 after all the so-called "Magnificent Seven" companies that have reported their earnings so far pointed to a surge in AI spending.
Investors will have more clues
on AI demand, as semiconductor firms including Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm report results this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump said AI giant Nvidia's most advanced chips will be reserved for U.S. companies and kept out of China and other countries. Shares of Nvidia were up 1.6% in premarket trading.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed last week to de-escalate tensions, including a one-year delay in reciprocal tariffs, but the agreement did little to address a deeper divide between the world's two economic superpowers.
At 06:04 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 48 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 25.25 points, or 0.37% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 152.5 points, or 0.59%
PRIVATE ECONOMIC DATA AWAITED
The spotlight this week will be on private sector economic data to gauge the health of the economy, with the second-longest U.S. government shutdown contributing to data fog and monetary policy uncertainty.
Investors will closely watch ADP's private payrolls data on Wednesday for signs of the labor market's health, particularly after Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week tempered optimism for a December rate cut.
A clutch of Fed officials aired discomfort with the central bank's decision to cut interest rates last week, even as Fed Governor Christopher Waller made the case for further easing to support a weakening labor market.
Traders are now pricing in a 69% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in December, lower than the 90% priced in a week earlier, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a case around the legality of Trump's tariffs on Wednesday, after a lower court said the administration overstepped authority by imposing levies under a law meant for emergencies.
Before the bell, Berkshire Hathaway's Class B shares rose 1.4% after Warren Buffett's conglomerate reported a higher profit for the third quarter.
Data storage companies gained after a report said Samsung delayed its DDR5 contract pricing to mid-November.
Seagate Technology and Western Digital were up 2.9% and 2.3%, respectively. Sandisk rose 6.4%.
Roku shares added 2.2% after Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.
(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
