The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks likely to add to the strong gains posted last week.
The markets may continue to benefit from optimism about a new stimulus bill even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said talks will "remain at an impasse" until "serious issues" with the Trump administration's latest proposal are resolved.
The White House has increased its offer to $1.8 billion in its latest proposal, but Pelosi still called the administration's proposed bill "grossly inadequate."
"The news is filled with the numbers in terms of dollars. The heart of the matter is: can we allow the virus to rage on and ignore science as the Administration proposes, or will they accept the scientific strategic plan in the Heroes Act to crush the virus," Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues.
"We have other differences in terms of who benefits from the spending," she added. "But in terms of addressing testing, tracing and treatment, what the Trump Administration has offered is wholly insufficient."
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows sent a letter to members of the House and Senate accusing Democrats of refusing to compromise on bipartisan legislation.
"It is not just about the top-line number but also about legislation that can be passed by both the House and the Senate and signed into law by President Trump to help the American people," Mnuchin and Meadows wrote.
Mnuchin and Meadows urged Congress to vote on a bill allowing the administration to spend unused Paycheck Protection Program funds while negotiations on a comprehensive package continue.
"The all-or-nothing approach is an unacceptable response to the American people," Mnuchin and Meadows wrote.
Nonetheless, overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, as banks and the bond markets are closed for the Columbus Day holiday.
The looming earnings season may also keep some traders on the sidelines, with Citigroup (C), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) Goldman Sachs (GS), and Morgan Stanley (MS) among the companies due to report their quarterly results in the coming days.
Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Friday, extending the upward move seen over the course of the two previous sessions. With the continued advanced, the major averages once again ended the session at their best closing levels in over a month.
The major averages all closed firmly positive, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq jumped 158.96 points or 1.4 percent to 11,579.94, the Dow climbed 161.39 points or 0.6 percent to 28,586.90 and the S&P 500 advanced 30.30 points or 0.9 percent to 3,477.13.
For the week, the Nasdaq soared by 4.6 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow surged up by 3.8 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.
Continued optimism about a new stimulus bill contributed to the strength on Wall Street, as traders kept a close eye on the latest developments in Washington.
The major averages showed a notable move to the upside in late morning trading after President Donald Trump suggested he was once again in favor of a broad relief package.
"Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big!" Trump tweeted before later telling Rush Limbaugh he would like to see a bigger stimulus package than either the Democrats or Republicans are offering.
Trump's comments came amid reports that the White House was planning to offer a $1.8 trillion package, which is up from the administration's previous $1.6 trillion proposal but still below the $2.2 trillion bill passed by House Democrats.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill later said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had "returned to the table with a proposal that attempted to address some of the concerns Democrats have."
"Of special concern, is the absence of an agreement on a strategic plan to crush the virus," Hammill tweeted. "For this and other provisions, we are still awaiting language from the Administration as negotiations on the overall funding amount continue."
Meanwhile, amid the back-and-forth between the White House and Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said a new relief bill is "unlikely" to pass before the elections.
"I'd like to see us rise above [politics] like we did back in March and April, but I think that's unlikely in the next three weeks," McConnell said.
Gold stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 4.9 percent. The rally by gold stocks came amid a substantial increase by the price of the precious metal.
Significant strength was also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent jump the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. The index ended the session at its best closing level in over a month.
Semiconductor stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, resulting in a 1.8 percent advance by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Xilinx (XLNX) posted a standout gain after a report from the Wall Street Journal said Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is in advanced talks to buy the rival chipmaker in a deal that could be valued at more than $30 billion.
Retail, airline and networking stocks also moved notably higher, while energy stocks bucked the uptrend amid a pullback by the price of crude oil.
Commodity, Currency Markets
Crude oil futures are sliding $0.58 to $40.02 a barrel after falling $0.59 to $40.60 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after soaring $30.90 to $1,921.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $4.90 to $1,931.10 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 105.40 yen versus the 105.62 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1808 compared to last Friday's $1.1826.
Asia
Asian stocks rose broadly on Monday as investors kept an eye on U.S. fiscal stimulus negotiations and the movement of the Chinese yuan after a tweak by the country's central bank.
On Sunday, the Trump administration urged Congress to pass a stripped-down coronavirus relief bill, but the Democrats dismissed the proposal as "inadequate."
Chinese stocks led regional gains as the country returned from the eight-day Mid-Autumn festival. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 86.39 points, or 2.6 percent, to 3,358.46 as a robust rebound in tourism and ebbing coronavirus cases spurred bets of a quicker economic recovery. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied 2.2 percent to finish at 24,649.68.
The offshore yuan fell after the People's Bank of China announced a rule change that made it cheaper to short the Chinese currency.
Japanese shares ended slightly lower as the yen strengthened and caution prevailed ahead of earnings season. The Nikkei 225 Index slipped 61 points, or 0.3 percent, to 23,558.69, while the broader Topix closed 0.2 percent lower at 1,643.35. Exporters fell, with Toyota Motor, Sony, Canon and Honda Motor giving up 1-2 percent.
On the economic front, the Cabinet Office said that the value of core machine orders in Japan rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in August, coming in at 752.5 billion yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 1.0 percent following the 6.3 percent spike in July.
Australian markets eked out modest gains as investors awaited cues from corporate earnings and quarterly production figures from mining giants due later this week.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 29.80 points, or 0.5 percent, to 6,132, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended up 30.60 points, or 0.5 percent, at 6,343.10.
The big four banks rose between 1.3 percent and 2 percent, while mining heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto dropped 0.4 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
Sliding oil prices dented energy stocks, with Santos losing 1 percent and Origin Energy falling 1.6 percent. Whitehaven Coal shares slumped 5.7 percent.
Tech stocks gained ground, with buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay and Appen both climbing around 2.8 percent.
Seoul stocks rose for the eighth straight session as the government lowered its Covid-19 social distancing guidelines to the lowest level and investors clung to hopes for U.S. stimulus spending. The benchmark Kospi climbed 11.77 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,403.73.
Chipmakers paced the gainers after data showed exports of memory chips rose an annual 11.2 percent in the first ten days of October. Samsung Electronics rose 1.2 percent and SK Hynix advanced 3.1 percent.
Europe
European stocks have moved mostly higher on Monday as hopes of further stimulus on both sides of the Atlantic helped investors shrug off concerns over an accelerated spread of Covid-19 across the continent. As talks resume, investors remain hopeful that U.S. lawmakers will eventually pass a new stimulus package.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is due to speak later today amid expectations that she will give an indication on upcoming interest rates and stimulus.
While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent.
Automakers are broadly higher, with Daimler and Peugeot rising over 1 percent after reports that the European Union's new trade chief has called on Washington to withdraw tariffs on more than $7 billion (€5.9 billion) of EU products or face additional duties on exports to Europe.
KPN shares have surged on a Bloomberg report that private-equity group EQT was considering a takeover offer for the Dutch telecommunications company.
Meanwhile, British gambling group GVC Holdings has fallen after warning that full-year profits will be reduced by up to £40 million per year.
Aveva has also slumped. The provider of engineering and industrial software said that interim revenues will be lower than last year.
National Express Group has also shown a notable move to the downside after announcing a new group chief executive.
U.S. Economic Reports
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari is scheduled to speak about COVID-19 and the economy in a virtual conversation event co-sponsored by The Numad Group and The Bush Foundation at 9 am ET.
Stocks In Focus
Shares of Twitter (TWTR) are moving significantly higher in pre-market trading after Deutsche Bank upgraded its rating on the social media giant to Buy from Hold.
Cloud communications platform provider Twilio (TWLO) is also likely to see initial strength after announcing it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire customer data platform Segment for approximately $3.2 billion in Twilio common stock.
Shares of Levi Strauss (LEVI) may also move to the upside after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the jeans and apparel maker to Overweight from Equal-weight.
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