US stock futures stepped higher on Thursday as President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held a high-stakes meeting, with relations on trade and AI in the balance. Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) rose 0.3%, while those on the broad benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) edged up 0.2%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) climbed 0.5% following a record-setting Wednesday for Wall Street stocks. Trump and Xi called for better ties between the US and China as the two-day summit kicked off on Thursday, expected to cover issues ranging from tariffs to Taiwan to technology. In tow are some of America’s top CEOs, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla’s Elon Musk, and Apple’s Tim Cook. Consequently, AI is expected to top the agenda, in addition to trade, and Wall Street investors are watching the meeting closely. Also in focus are hopes that China can help break the Middle East standoff between its ally Iran and the US, as their war drives up oil prices and risks stoking inflation. Trump, however, has downplayed the extent to which he will discuss Iran in Beijing. On the corporate front, Cisco (CSCO) shares soared after its quarterly earnings beat expectations, and the networking giant laid out an AI-focused restructuring plan that will cut around 4,000 jobs. Thursday’s docket brings results from Applied Materials (AMAT) and Klarna Group (KLAR), among others. LIVE 1 update Today at 2:40 AM UTC Oil steadies ahead of highly-watched Trump-Xi meeting Bloomberg reports: Oil steadied ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, which is being held against the backdrop of the Iran war that shows no signs of a near-term resolution.West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) traded near $101 a barrel after declining 1.1% in the previous session. Brent (BZ=F) crude closed below $106. Trump is scheduled to meet Xi on Thursday, and the US leader told reporters this week that trade talks will be prioritized rather than discussions about the Middle East conflict. The war has led to global oil inventories shrinking at a record pace, and the market will remain “severely undersupplied” until October even if the conflict ends next month, according to the International Energy Agency. Ahead of the Trump-Xi summit, the US threatened banks and sanctioned more entities over the sale of Iranian oil to China, the biggest buyer of its crude.The flow of crude and fuels through the crucial Strait of Hormuz fell by nearly 6 million barrels per day in the first quarter, following the start of hostilities at the end of February, according to the Energy Information Administration. Only a trickle of tankers have been able to exit the Persian Gulf during the war. Read more here.
