Pre-Bell｜Nasdaq Futures Jump 1.6%; USA Rare Earth Rockets 22%; Alibaba Rebounds 4%; AMD Gains 3%; Nvidia, Tesla Rise Around 2%

U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday following Friday's pullback, as investors returned to risk assets after President Donald Trump's softer tone eased concerns over renewed U.S.-China trade tensions.

Market Snapshot

At 7:45 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 344 points, or 0.75%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 70.25 points, or 1.07%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 384 points, or 1.57%.

Pre-Market Movers

Rare-earths miner MP Materials extended gains in the premarket session, rising 10% after jumping 8.4% on Friday to close at an all-time high of $78.34 after Trump said that the U.S. would retaliate against China over export controls. The Defense Department also has invested in the company as it seeks to ensure the U.S. has access to the materials, boosting the stock. MP Materials produces neodymium and praseodymium oxides, key components of magnets for high-tech products like electric vehicles and F-35 fighter jets. Coming into Monday, shares have risen 402% this year, putting them on pace for their best year on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Shares of smaller rare-earth companies USA Rare Earth and Ramaco Resources rose 22% and 6.1%, respectively, after closing higher on Friday. Albemarle, a lithium miner, rose 6.1%.

Nvidia, the leading maker of chips for artificial-intelligence applications, rose 2.3% after closing down 4.9% on Friday amid the increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Shares fell 2.4% last week.

Advanced Micro Devices rose 3% after a 7.7% drop Friday. The chip maker was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 last week, rising almost 31%. AMD unveiled a deal last week with OpenAI to power 6 gigawatts of AI infrastructure with its graphics processing units. OpenAI, the developer of chatbot ChatGPT, also was issued a warrant for up to 160 million shares of AMD, representing about 10% of total shares.

Tesla was up 1.8%. The EV maker dropped 5.1% on Friday and 3.8% for the week. Tesla last week launched new versions of its Model 3 and Y that cost less than $40,000. A lack of affordable models, more EV competition and concern over CEO Elon Musk's politics have hit sales, particularly in Europe, and Tesla now hopes lower-priced versions of its two most popular cars can boost sales in the region.

U.S.-listed shares of U.K.-based AstraZeneca rose 0.2% after the company became the latest drugmaker to strike a pricing deal with the Trump administration. AstraZeneca, which recorded 43% of its revenue in the U.S. in 2024, committed to offer all of its prescription medications to Medicaid at "most favored nation prices," which means "the lowest price anywhere in the world," according to Trump.

Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares rose 4% following a 8.5% decline in the previous trading session. Trump's latest comments on social media about China trade relations have investors worried. Shares of Chinese tech companies Baidu and JD.com rose 4.2% and 2.5%, respectively, following steep losses Friday.

Fastenal, the fastener maker, reported third-quarter earnings of 29 cents a share, missing analysts' estimates of 30 cents, as revenue of $2.13 billion match expectations. The stock declined 3.9%.

StubHub Holdings gained 4.6% as multiple brokerages initiated coverage on the stock.

Estee Lauder rose about 5% after a Goldman Sachs rating upgrade, while Rocket Lab shares added 7.1% as Morgan Stanley raised its PT to a Wall Street high.

Market News

BofA Hikes Gold Price Forecast to $5,000/Oz for 2026

Bank of America Global Research on Monday raised its price forecasts for precious metals, lifting its 2026 outlook for gold to $5,000 an ounce, with an average of around $4,400.

Gold surged above $4,000 an ounce for the first time ever on October 8. Gold prices scaled to another record high at $4,079.62 on Monday as investors revved up their safe-haven bets after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed tariff threats against China, while expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts added to the metal's allure.

JPMorgan Unveils $1.5 Trillion Plan to Boost Investments in US Strategic Industries

JPMorgan Chase launched a $1.5 trillion plan on Monday to facilitate, finance and invest in industries deemed critical to the U.S. national security and economic resilience, including defense, energy and advanced manufacturing.

As part of the 10-year initiative, the largest U.S. lender also plans to hire more bankers and invest up to $10 billion into U.S. companies through direct equity and venture capital investments, focusing on fast-growing businesses and key manufacturers.

Mokyr, Aghion and Howitt Win 2025 Nobel Economics Prize

Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt won the 2025 Nobel economics prize for "having explained innovation-driven economic growth", the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday.

The prestigious award, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final prize to be given out this year and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million).

"The laureates have taught us that sustained growth cannot be taken for granted. Economic stagnation, not growth, has been the norm for most of human history. Their work shows that we must be aware of, and counteract, threats to continued growth," the prize-awarding body said in a statement.