Trump-Xi Summit Set for Thursday as Markets Rally and Officials Signal Optimism

U.S. equity futures climbed and oil prices slid more than 2% on Monday morning as investors grew optimistic about a high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for Sept. 23-25 in Washington. Xi, who skipped the United Nations General Assembly to hold a direct one-on-one meeting with Trump, confirmed travel plans through China's Foreign Ministry on Monday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sunday to lay the groundwork, calling the talks "focused, fulsome, and constructive," and stocks advanced further after Bessent said those preliminary discussions were successful.

The agenda for the Trump-Xi meeting is expected to span tariffs, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence. China and the United States have been discussing reciprocal tariff reductions on $30 billion worth of goods from each side, and the talks carry added weight following the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate increase in three years, driven by persistent inflation and Treasury yields near 5%. Several prominent technology executives are expected to participate, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Nvidia shares were in focus given the potential for eased chip export restrictions, with Barron's noting that the summit is crucial for any resumption of AI chip sales to Chinese buyers such as Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance. In a separate geopolitical development, Trump announced a security agreement with Denmark granting the U.S. permanent control over Greenland's security, with a U.S. official confirming the deal explicitly bans non-NATO bases or troop presence on the island. U.S.-listed Greenland-related stocks surged sharply in premarket trading on the news, with GLND rising 162.5% and GRML up 105.3%.