S&P 500 crosses 6,800 mark, joining Dow, Nasdaq in fresh records as US-China trade deal hopes run high

US stocks advanced toward new records on Monday as optimism grew that a long-awaited trade deal will emerge from President Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.7%, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 1.2% to close above 6,800 for the first time, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the rally with a 1.9% advance to a new record high.

Gold (GC=F) prices fell to around $4,000 per ounce as investors moved away from the safe-haven asset on prospects of a US-China trade deal. However bitcoin (BTC-USD) advanced reclaim the $115,000 level.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose on Monday to reclaim the $115,000 level, boosting crypto stocks and easing concerns that the prior weakness this month could signal a broader downturn.

October has historically been a strong month for bitcoin, as has the fourth quarter overall. The world’s largest cryptocurrency rose on Monday amid an overall jump in equities.

Robinhood (HOOD) stock jumped more than 5% on Monday as analysts at Compass Point raised their price target on shares to $161 from $105, citing revenue growth from equity transactions, prediction markets, and crypto fees.

Compass Point analyst Ed Engel and his team said in a note that they expect the company “to disclose October trends pacing well above 4Q expectations.” They maintained their Buy rating on Robinhood shares.

Apart from increased revenue on higher options and equities volumes, they pointed to the explosive growth of the platform’s prediction markets launched earlier this year. The service enables traders to bet on the outcome of any major event, from the likely winner of a football game to the duration of the government shutdown or the year-end price of bitcoin.

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China boosted its mining and refining activity for a category of metals that includes rare earth minerals by 14% year over year through the first three quarters.

Non-ferrous metal mining and dressing activity and non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling activity for the year through September grew by 14.2% and 14.6%, respectively, over the same period last year, according to data released Monday morning by China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

China classifies rare earths as non-ferrous metals, or those that don’t contain iron. The data does not indicate what share of the activity gains were attributed to rare earths alone.

The healthy increase in activity is one more sign that Beijing has been investing in its rare earth dominance. The world’s second-largest economy controls roughly 70% of rare earth mining, 90% of separation and processing, and 93% of magnet manufacturing.

Investors are paying particularly close attention to the materials this week as President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping prepare to sit down on Thursday in South Korea to hash out policy on several topics, including rare earths.

Tensions between the two countries have been heightened since the beginning of the month, when Beijing announced strict export controls on materials containing even trace amounts of rare earths.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he expects China will revive its purchases of US soybeans (^SPGSSOP), which Beijing had halted earlier in the year, and delay implementation of its rare-earth export licensing requirements by a year.

“I believe we’ve reached a very substantial framework that will avoid [a tariff hike] and allow us to discuss that and many other things with the Chinese,” Bessent said Sunday morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Rare earth stocks, including MP Materials (MP), USA Rare Earth (USAR), and NioCorp Developments (NB), all fell Monday morning on news of positive developments in the US-China trade negotiations.

Qualcomm (QCOM) stock jumped as much as 19% after announcing new chips and servers to rival those of Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD).

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The three major stock indexes hit intraday records shortly after the open on Monday.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) crossed 6,850 for the first time, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) hit 47,532 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) surpassed 23,560.

The moves built on records from the previous trading session Friday.

The “Magnificent Seven” Big Tech stocks and Broadcom (AVGO) started the week on an upbeat note as investors awaited key earnings reports from several of the group’s members.

AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) led the gains, climbing 2.5%. Tesla (TSLA), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), and Meta (META) shares also added more than 2%. Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and Broadcom rose over 1%.

The upswing comes ahead of a wave of earnings from tech giants, with Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta set to report quarterly financial results on Wednesday. Apple and Amazon will report earnings on Thursday.

Tech led stocks higher at the open on Monday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 1.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up roughly 0.6%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) jumped 0.9%.

The gains come as Wall Street awaits a slew of Big Tech earnings, the Fed’s October meeting, and President Trump’s meeting with China’s President Xi later this week.

The moves also put the indexes on track to build on all-time-\ highs last week.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is investing $75 million in gold and antimony miner Perpetua Resources Corp. (PPTA), the first investment announced of the bank’s $10 billion “Security and Resiliency Initiative.”

Shares in Perpetua jumped more than 10% in premarket trading before paring gains back to a bump of around 5%.

On Oct. 21, Perpetua broke ground on its Stibnite Gold Project development, reopening the abandoned Stibnite Mining District of Idaho.

The mining project is set to become the US’s only reserve of antimony, designated a critical mineral by the federal government for its use in weapons systems development, batteries, and semiconductors, alongside a host of other applications.

The mine is also expected to produce a high-grade open-pit gold mine, adding about 4.8 million ounces to the US’s gold reserves.

JPMorgan’s $75 million equity investment joins a $180 million equity investment from Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) and $80 million in awarded funds from the Department of Defense, according to a press release from Perpetua.

“It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing — all of which are essential for our national security,” said JPMorgan chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.

“Our security is predicated on the strength and resiliency of America’s economy.”

The investment from JPMorgan is the first publicly announced equity stake taken as part of the “$1.5 trillion [Strength and Resiliency] initiative to address pressing needs in key sectors from critical minerals to frontier technologies,” which includes $10 billion earmarked for equity investments.

JPMorgan’s investment represents a 2.7% stake in the company, according to Perpetua.

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP) stock rose 5% before the bell after raising its full-year outlook on Monday. The beverage maker now expects fiscal 2025 constant currency net sales growth to be in a high-single-digit range.

GameStop (GME) stock gained 6% in premarket trading on Monday. The video-game retailer is benefiting from the meme stock frenzy, which boosted Beyond Meat (BYND) last week.

US rare earth stocks fell on Monday in premarket trading following US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments that China will delay export restrictions on rare earth materials. USA Rare Earth (USAR) stock fell 6% in premarket trading on Monday. Trilogy Metals (TMQ) and MP Materials (MP) retreated by 4% and Energy Fuels (UUUU) dropped 3% before the bell on Monday.