U.S. stock futures pointed to a rise at the open Tuesday, setting the Dow industrials on track to add to the prior day’s 669-point gain.
The stock market is rallying after tumbling last week, with analysts attributing the recovery to fears easing about a potential global trade war.
What are the main benchmarks doing?
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YMM8, +0.45% advanced by 115 points, or 0.5%, to 24,306, while S&P 500 futures ESM8, +0.46% added 11 points, or 0.4%, to 2,670.50. Nasdaq-100 futures NQM8, +0.73% tacked on 50 points, or 0.7%, to 6,823.50.
On Monday, the Dow DJIA, +2.84% closed higher by 669.40 points, or 2.8%, notching its third-largest point gain in its history, as well as its biggest percentage rise since August 2015. The S&P 500 SPX, +2.72% climbed 2.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +3.26% jumped 3.3%.
The Dow is down 3.3% in March, cutting its advance over the past 12 months to 18%.
What’s driving markets?
Fears about a possible trade war have weighed on markets around the world this month, as President Donald Trump threatens tariffs on at least $50 billion of Chinese goods. But such concerns appeared to abate on Monday, thanks to reports that Washington and Beijing are negotiating.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that he’s “cautiously hopeful” that the world’s two biggest economies will reach an agreement to avoid tariffs, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said he believes the two countries “both have the intelligence to resolve the issue,” according to an official statement issued late Monday.
What are strategists saying?
Markets are starting to wonder whether the American moves with tariffs just have been a “tactic to increase leverage in trade discussions with the world’s second largest economy, as Trump merely looks to fulfill a campaign promise,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, in a note.