U.S. Stock Market Opens Mixed as It Awaits U.S.-China Trade Talks Outcome

AI Semiconductor Stocks Rise on Anticipation of U.S.-China Talks

"Market Sentiment Remains Optimistic Despite Weak U.S. Economic Data"

On the 9th (local time), the New York stock market opened mixed as investors awaited the outcome of the U.S.-China trade talks held in London.

At around 10:15 AM Eastern Standard Time, the S&P 500 was up 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. The NASDAQ index climbed 0.4% as semiconductor stocks such as NVIDIA, AMD, and Qualcomm advanced.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell by 1 basis point (1bp=0.01%) to 4.50%. The 30-year Treasury yield rose by 1bp ahead of a $22 billion government bond auction to be held in several days. The dollar weakened against most major currencies.

U.S. and Chinese officials are holding trade negotiations in London today. The U.S. signaled a willingness to ease certain advanced technology export restrictions in exchange for China assuring a relaxation of rare earth export curbs. The talks, which started shortly after 1 p.m. GMT on Monday in London, are expected to continue into the evening and may resume on Tuesday.

The meeting follows a phone conversation last week between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with both countries striving to avoid a large-scale trade war.

NVIDIA traded up 1.3% at $143 on optimism for a potential deal easing restrictions on China's rare earth exports and AI semiconductor export controls at the U.S.-China talks. Due to expectations surrounding the easing of AI chip export controls, AMD, Marvell Technology, and Broadcom also all posted gains.

Tesla fell 0.3% after investment ratings were downgraded at both Baird and Argus Research.

Apple rose 0.5% ahead of the 2025 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC) kicking off today. Apple shares are down more than 18% so far this year.

Warner Bros. Discovery surged nearly 10% after announcing the separation of its cable TV and streaming services.

Qualcomm jumped 3.5% after announcing it had agreed to acquire UK-listed semiconductor firm Alphawave for approximately $2.4 billion in cash, in a move to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) technology portfolio.

Online brokerage Robinhood and AppLovin, whose stock prices have been rising steadily, dropped by 6% and 4.4% respectively after being excluded from the S&P 500 index's quarterly rebalancing. Both companies had been considered strong candidates for inclusion in the S&P 500 benchmark.

The quarterly S&P 500 index rebalancing, which occurs on the third week of the last month of each quarter, triggers billions of dollars in trades and acts as a momentum driver as passive funds add stocks to their portfolios.

Last Friday, the S&P 500 closed above the 6,000 mark for the first time since February.

Chris Verrone, chief market strategist at Strategas, interpreted the rally as "showing that while overall U.S. economic indicators remain weak, the market is telling us to ignore it." He also pointed out, "Cyclical stocks reaching record highs versus defensive stocks means that the U.S. economy, in general, remains solid."

Later this week, inflation data is expected to be a key focus. The May Consumer Price Index will be released on Wednesday, followed by the Producer Price Index on Friday. The University of Michigan's updated consumer sentiment survey, including inflation expectations, is also slated for release on Friday.

Kim Jung-ah, Contributing Reporter kja@hankyung.com