Futures on all three major indexes are building on Friday's gains
Stock futures are pointed cautiously higher today, as Wall Street looks to build off a winning week. The U.S. and China will enter trade negotiations in London later today, with President Donald Trump sharing on Truth Social on Friday that the meeting would “go very well.” Trump’s negotiators -- including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent -- are focused on China speeding up exports of rare-earth minerals. This comes after Beijing granted rare earth licenses to General Motors (GM), Ford Motor (F), and Stellantis (STLA) suppliers.
At last check, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures are the most comfortably in the black, while S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 (NDX) futures are marginally higher, the former looking to build some distance from 6,000 cleared on Friday.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Long-term trendline guiding EAT higher.
- Is there any hope left for this retail stock?
- Plus, HOOD snubbed by SPX; Warner Bros Discovery split; and bull notes for Walmart.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 2.5 million call contracts and over 1.4 million put contracts traded on Friday. The single-session equity put/call ratio slid to 0.55, while the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.59.
- Robinhood Markets Inc (NASDAQ:HOOD) stock is down 3.2% before the bell, after the fintech company was not added to the SPX, as many believed it would. HOOD is up 100% in 2025 alone, and on Friday hit a record high $77.80.
- Warner Bros Discovery Inc (NASDAQ:WBD) stock is 7.2% higher ahead of the open, after the broadcasting concern announced it will split into two publicly traded companies, one to focus on streaming, and the other to emphasize cable networks. WBD is down 7.1% year to date, but 17.7% higher in the last 12 months.
- The shares of Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) are 0.6% higher in electronic trading, after the retail giant scored three price-target hikes this morning, the highest coming from Mizuho to $115 from $105. Walmart stock added more than 45% year over year.
- All eyes on inflation data this week.
China Inflation Data in Focus
Asian markets were higher on Monday, with trade negotiations between the U.S. and China in focus. Investors also unpacked China’s smaller-than-expected drop in consumer price inflation, alongside export growth data that missed estimates due to fewer shipments to the U.S. Elsewhere, Japan’s first-quarter economic contraction was smaller than initial data previously indicated. South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led today’s charge, each adding 1.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite nabbed 0.9% and 0.4% gains, respectively.
European markets are lower as investors digest a slew of corporate updates. Most notably, U.S. semiconductor giant Qualcomm (QCOM) is acquiring U.K. chip designer Alphawave in a $2.4 billion deal. London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 is 0.4% lower, and the German DAX is staring at a 0.8% drop.