Wall Street heads for gains before the bell as Trump and Xi meet eye Trump-Xi summit

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Thursday, May 14, 2026.

Wall Street heads for gains before the bell as Trump and Xi meet eye Trump-Xi summit

Wall Street is anticipated to open higher Thursday following another record-setting day and developments from U.S. President Donald Trump’s encounter with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

S&P futures gained 0.3% while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.7%. In early trading, Nasdaq futures were up 0.2%. The S&P and Nasdaq both touched all-time highs on Wednesday.

Oil prices are largely stable more than two months into the Iran war, with no obvious end in sight. There had been some hopes for results from the Trump-Xi meeting as U.S. officials claimed Beijing may leverage its tight economic relations with Tehran to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The White House said Thursday that Trump and Xi discussed ways to improve U.S.-China economic cooperation. Both sides also agreed that the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened.

Brent crude, the worldwide benchmark, fell 19 cents to $105.44 a barrel. That was almost $70 a barrel when the war began in Iran in late February. That comes after the International Energy Agency reported Wednesday that the strait’s supply disruptions were “depleting global oil inventories at a record pace.”

On investors’ radar are also updates on China’s imports of Nvidia’s breakthrough H200 processors, after it was reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would join Trump on his China trip, along with other top executives including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook. U.S. business leaders met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang Thursday afternoon.

Trump and Xi met at the Great Hall of the People and discussed U.S.-China relations and Taiwan, although observers did not expect substantial breakthroughs.

Shares of Internet networking giant Cisco Systems surged 15% in equity trading after the company reported double-digit sales and profit gains in the third quarter. The San Jose, California-based tech firm also boosted its 2026 revenue outlook to $4 billion from $3 billion on strength of AI infrastructure orders.

Europe’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.5% at midday as the U.K. said its economy grew at a faster-than-expected 0.3% pace in March despite the impact of the war in Iran. France's CAC 40 was 0.8% higher and Germany's DAX was up 1.3%.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 1% to 62,654.05, after hitting another all-time intraday high just above 63,700, helped in part by strong corporate reports. South Korea’s Kospi closed up 1.8% at a new record of 7,981.41, boosted by technology-related firms on the artificial intelligence boom.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 1.5% to 4,177.92. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was steady at 26,389.04.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1% at 8,640.70.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.9%, while India’s Sensex was up 1.1%.