Stocks Rally as Oil Retreats Ahead of Crucial Trump and Xi Summit

U.S. stocks moved higher Monday as falling oil prices and easing Treasury yields gave investors room to look past inflation concerns, geopolitical uncertainty, and debate over artificial intelligence.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2%.

The advance followed three consecutive weekly losses for the Dow.

Stocks have largely pushed through a dense collection of concerns this month, even as rising bond yields, conflict in the Middle East, and uncertainty surrounding artificial intelligence prompted caution.

Oil prices offered markets some relief by retreating below $100 per barrel. Hopes emerged that the United States and Iran could resume diplomatic talks, while futures for international benchmark Brent crude and US benchmark WTI both eased Monday.

Treasury yields also declined, with the benchmark 10 year yield remaining just below 5%.

Bond markets continue to command attention after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week and left the possibility of additional increases on the table.

Investors will receive more signals from central bank officials through eight separate speeches planned through Friday.

The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan have also tightened, adding to the market focus on interest rates and bond yields.

The main event for the week is Thursday’s summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The talks are expected to address an extension of the tariff truce and potential cooperation on artificial intelligence.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described preliminary weekend discussions with his Chinese counterpart as “very successful.”

Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for hours to discuss issues including trade and artificial intelligence.

The US side proposed an AI safety notification mechanism for the coming negotiations, while Chinese state news agency Xinhua said only that the two countries discussed AI.

Bessent also said they considered establishing a US China AI dialogue focused particularly on national security concerns.

“We think that, just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important,” Bessent said at the conclusion of the talks.

Several leading technology executives are expected to attend a dinner with Xi, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, former Apple CEO Tim Cook, Qualcomm Inc. CEO Cristiano Amon, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and the JPMorgan Chase CEO are also expected to join.

The gathering comes as the technology industry confronts renewed debate over whether frontier AI laboratories should slow the pace of model development. That discussion intensified after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay addressing AI safety concerns.

Technology stocks advanced Monday morning, while the PHLX Semiconductor index climbed more than 2% to its highest price since Sept. 9. Meta shares jumped nearly 7% as analysts became more optimistic about the company.

Wells Fargo maintained its Overweight rating on Meta and lifted its price target to $796 from $640.

The new target represented potential upside of nearly 20% from Friday’s closing price, while Meta traded at about $710 per share Monday morning.

The firm pointed to Meta’s Muse personal AI agent and coding agent as products that could support the company’s presentation at its Connect event on Sept. 23 and Sept. 24. CFRA analyst Angelo Zino maintained a Strong Buy rating and a $750 price target.

“Our Strong Buy reflects AI monetization traction, cost discipline, and enticing valuation,” Zino wrote.

“We see potential for new streams from AI agents, subscriptions, and API access to diversify revenue beyond advertising.”

Bitcoin joined the broader advance, rising 6% over the previous 24 hours to trade above $85,000 per coin.

Still, measures of market breadth showed strain, with more than 50% of S&P 500 companies trading below their 200 day moving average as the index sat roughly 3% below its August record high.

Downside volume on the New York Stock Exchange reached 54% of total volume and approached its highest level for the year, according to BTIG technical strategist Jonathan Krinsky. Smaller company stocks measured by the Russell 2000 were down more than 5% from their highs.

Oura also moved toward a public listing, with the smart ring maker and its shareholders planning to offer 50,000,000 shares priced from $40.00 to $44.00 each.

That range would value the Finnish company at as much as $14.1 billion, with shares expected to trade under the ticker OURA.