U.S. Stocks May Move Higher After U.S., EU Reach Trade Deal

(RTTNews) - Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Monday, extending the upward trend seen over the past several sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.2 percent.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes amid news the U.S. and the European Union struck a last-minute trade agreement and reports suggested the U.S. and China are likely to extend their tariff truce for another 90 days.

The U.S.-EU agreement includes a 15 percent tariff on European goods, down from the 30 percent originally proposed.

The EU has also committed to purchasing $750 billion worth of U.S. energy and investing $600 billion more into the American economy as part of the agreement.

However, overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later this week.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the announcement could impact the outlook for rates.

The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is also likely to be in focus in the coming days along with earnings news from Magnificent Seven members Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META).

The major U.S. stock markets put together a solid performance on the final day of the trading week, which saw the Dow reverse losses from the previous session and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit fresh record closing highs.

The markets opened slightly to the upside on Friday and continued to tick higher as the day progressed.

The Dow climbed 208.01 points or 0.5 percent to finish at 44,901.92, while the Nasdaq gained 50.36 points or 0.2 percent to close at 21,108.32 and the S&P 500 improved 25.29 points or 0.4 percent to end at 6,388.64.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are surging $1.20 to $66.36 a barrel after falling $0.87 to $65.16 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after tumbling $37.90 to $3,335.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are edging down $7 to $3,328.60 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 148.13 yen versus the 147.69 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1659 compared to last Friday's $1.1742.