LIVE MARKETS-New highs keep coming

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NEW HIGHS KEEP COMING

Wall Street's main indexes posted record closing highs for the second day in a row on Monday as investors were hopeful about the prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal and looked forward to a week packed with high-profile technology earnings and a widely expected U.S. interest rate cut.

With this, the S&P 500 index .SPX scored its 35th record close this year, while the Nasdaq .IXIC notched its 34th record finish. The Dow .DJI posted its 14th record close of 2025.

The S&P 500 Tech .SPLRCT and Industrial .SPLRCI sectors also scored record closes, as did chip stocks .SOX. The small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT was able to eke out a record close as well.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are due to meet on Thursday to decide on a framework that could pause tougher U.S. tariffs and China's rare-earth export curbs, easing market jitters around a trade war.

As for Big Tech earnings, five of the Magnificent Seven stocks, including Apple AAPL.O, Microsoft MSFT.O, Alphabet GOOGL.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O, and Meta Platforms META.O, which make up about 25% of S&P 500 total market cap, are scheduled to release quarterly numbers this week.

Meanwhile, markets see it as a near certainty (at ~98% according to the CME's FedWatch Tool) that the FOMC will deliver a rate cut at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.

In his weekly market letter, Jay Woods, Chief Market Strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said:

"As of now the path for one more cut at the Fed’s final meeting in December seems possible and investors are hoping the message from this meeting makes it appear even more probable."

Woods added, "For the most dovish fans out there it may be tough for him to set the table for another cut at this time, the key is that he doesn’t rule it out entirely."

"He could easily take a more neutral stance as he has ammunition in the current shutdown. It would make sense for him to state that as a data dependent body they will need more information before making any new decisions. That could scare the market, but it could also put more pressure on Washington to get a deal done to end the shutdown."

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood just shortly after 4 p.m. ET:

(Terence Gabriel)

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

THE ERA OF "RELUCTANT BULLS" IN US STOCKS - CITI CLICK HERE

IN THE EVENT OF A VALUATION-DRIVEN DROP, DIVIDENDS MIGHT SOFTEN THE BLOW CLICK HERE

CHINA'S HIGH-TECH HUSTLE PUTS U.S. AI GIANTS IN THE HOT SEAT CLICK HERE

WHY THE SHORT SQUEEZE IS HAMMERING THE 'QUALITY FACTOR' CLICK HERE

WALL ST AT RECORD HIGHS ON US-CHINA TRADE DEAL HOPES: EYES ON EARNINGS, FED CLICK HERE

US STOCK FUTURES ON THE MARCH, BUT MIGHT MR. GANN RAIN ON THE PARADE? CLICK HERE

FRANCE: RECORD HIGHS BUT CONCERNS LINGER CLICK HERE

NIKKEI/TOPIX DIVERGENCE A REASON TO WORRY, SOCGEN SAYS CLICK HERE

GOLD: THE "MOUNT EVEREST" OF BULL MARKET CLICK HERE

LITTLE DRAMA CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: MILESTONES MILESTONES EVERYWHERE CLICK HERE

MORNING BID: TRADE DEAL HOPE SPURS RISK RALLY CLICK HERE