Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq rise as Nvidia jumps, Trump-Xi summit kicks off


US stocks stepped higher on Thursday after President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping began a high-stakes US-China summit, with relations on trade and AI in the balance.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) led gains, rising 0.8%, while the broad benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) picked up 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 0.2% following a record-setting Wednesday for Wall Street stocks.

Shares in Nvidia (NVDA) surged by more than 2% on Thursday on news that the US had approved sales of its H200 chips to several Chinese firms.

At face-to-face talks on Thursday, Trump and Xi called for better US-China ties to begin a two-day summit likely to cover issues ranging from tariffs to Taiwan to technology.

In tow are some of America’s top CEOs, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla’s (TSLA) Elon Musk, and Apple’s (AAPL) Tim Cook. Consequently, AI is expected to top the agenda, in addition to trade, and Wall Street investors are watching the meeting closely.

Also in focus are hopes that China can help break the Middle East standoff between its ally Iran and the US, as their war drives up oil prices and risks stoking inflation. Trump, however, has downplayed the extent to which he will discuss Iran in Beijing.

On the corporate front, Cisco (CSCO) shares soared after its quarterly earnings beat expectations, and the networking giant laid out an AI-focused restructuring plan that will cut around 4,000 jobs. Klarna Group (KLAR) also popped after the company said it swung to a $1 million profit on the first quarter from a $99 million loss a year earlier. Thursday’s docket will also bring results from Applied Materials (AMAT).

LIVE 8 updates

  • Jake Conley

    Initial jobless claim rise to 211,000, exceeding estimates

    Initial jobless claims rose to 211,000 in the week ended May 9, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Thursday, coming in above the previous week’s revised tally of 199,000 first-time claims.

    Economists had expected initial claims to be slightly lower at 205,000 for the week, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The four-week moving average of initial claims ticked up to 203,750 from the previous week’s 203,000 revised average.

    Continuing claims, which track the unemployed population still seeking work, rose to roughly 1.78 million in the week ended May 2, compared to the previous week’s revised count of roughly 1.76 million continuing claims.

    Economists had been looking for 1.78 million continuing claims.

  • Jake Conley

    US stock market opens in the green on Thursday as Trump and Xi meet

    The US stock market opened into the green on Thursday after President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping concluded their first major sit-down in a high-stakes US-China summit.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.8%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) each climbed 0.3% following a record-setting Wednesday for Wall Street stocks.

    Several leading American CEOs joined the US president on the trip, including Tesla’s (TSLA) Elon Musk and Nvidia’s (NVDA) Jensen Huang. Xi reportedly told the group that their companies could be “deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up” and that “China’s door will only open wider.”

    Nvidia shares rose more than 2% Thursday morning on news that the US had approved H200 chip sales to several Chinese companies.

    Cisco (CSCO) shares soared after its quarterly earnings beat expectations, and the networking giant laid out an AI-focused restructuring plan that will cut around 4,000 jobs. Klarna Group (KLAR) also popped after the company said it swung to a $1 million profit on the first quarter from a $99 million loss a year earlier.

  • Jake Conley

    Xi Jinping tells CEOs that ‘China’s door will only open wider’

    Chinese President Xi Jinping warmly welcomed a delegation of US CEOs on hand in Beijing for the two-day US-China summit as President Trump looks to extend US business interests in China.

    Our Washington correspondent Ben Werschkul reports:

    The business leaders were on hand for an arrival ceremony and a portion of a bilateral meeting held in China’s Great Hall of the People, where Trump proceeded to introduce them to Xi “one by one,” according to Chinese state media.

    Xi reportedly responded to US desires to do more business in China by saying the companies could be “deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up” and that “China’s door will only open wider.”

    The outreach received a positive reaction from the CEOs with Tesla’s (TSLA) Elon Musk, Nvidia’s (NVDA) Jensen Huang, and Apple’s (AAPL) Tim Cook all spotted by reporters leaving in good spirits.

    “It was awesome,” Musk said when asked how his talks with Xi went.

    Xi has offered similar promises in years past — often to little avail — but it was nonetheless a striking message from the Chinese leader to begin the two-day visit and echoed a message Trump himself has been delivering ahead of the trip.

    Read more here.

  • Jake Conley

    Trump-Xi summit offers little movement on the war in Iran

    In a closed-door meeting between the leaders of the world’s largest economies on Thursday, President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened and remain free of any future militarization or tolling.

    Yet, beyond broad diplomatic statements, the first major sit-down between Trump and Xi appears to have yielded little progress on the war in Iran and no firm commitments from China, even as the White House had hoped to pressure Beijing into providing more aid.

    “I suspect the US would like to use the Trump-Xi meeting to push China to pressure Iran back to the negotiating table,” Jorge León, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, told Yahoo Finance.

    “But unless China sees a clear benefit in doing so — for example, avoiding a much more severe energy shock or securing concessions from Washington — I doubt Beijing will be eager to fully exercise that leverage.”

    Read more here.

  • Cisco stock jumps on booming AI orders, job cuts

    Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre reports:

    Cisco (CSCO) stock jumped more than 15% in premarket trading on Thursday after the networking giant issued a stronger-than-expected revenue outlook and cut thousands of jobs as it sharpens its focus on artificial intelligence.

    Cisco’s fiscal fourth quarter revenue outlook of $16.7 billion to $16.9 billion came in well above Wall Street expectations of roughly $15.8 billion.

    CEO Chuck Robbins said the workforce reductions are part of a broader effort to position Cisco for the AI era. The layoffs are expected to impact fewer than 4,000 employees, or under 5% of the company’s workforce.

    Read more here.

  • The S&P 500’s earnings boom is facing a bond market warning

    Stocks are hitting records as earnings surge. Meanwhile, bonds are competing harder for investor cash, Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre writes in today’s Chart of the Day.

    He writes:
    The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is in the middle of one of its strongest earnings seasons in decades, with profit growth accelerating, beat rates running hot, and analysts lifting future estimates instead of cutting them.

    Profits are strong enough to justify the record highs that stocks keep hitting.

    But the bond market is making that climb harder.

    The chart below shows the S&P 500’s realized earnings yield minus the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX), a version of a bond-stock valuation gauge recently highlighted by the Kobeissi Letter.

    The 10-year Treasury now pays more than S&P 500 earnings
    The 10-year Treasury now pays more than S&P 500 earnings · Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance

    … Right now, the S&P 500’s realized earnings yield is roughly 3.4%, below the 10-year Treasury yield near 4.5%. That leaves the gap at roughly negative 110 basis points — or 1.1 percentage points — the widest negative reading since 2003.

    Read more here about what that could mean.

  • Xi tells US CEOs accompanying Trump that China will open up more

    From Bloomberg:

    Xi Jinping signaled China is moving toward greater openness, striking an upbeat note during his meeting with US business leaders accompanying Donald Trump as the two presidents wrapped up morning talks that featured more divisive issues like trade and Taiwan.

    “American enterprises are deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up, a process from which both sides have benefited,” Xi told more than 10 business representatives gathered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China Central Television reported. “China’s door to the outside world will only open wider.”

    Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attend the welcome ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump by Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
    Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the welcome ceremony in Beijing. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov) · REUTERS / REUTERS

    Footage released by the state broadcaster showed executives including Tesla Inc.’s (TSLA) Elon Musk, Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) Tim Cook, Boeing Co.’s (BA) Kelly Ortberg and Nvidia Corp.’s (NVDA) Jensen Huang — who joined the trip as a last-minute addition — escorted by staff into the meeting room.

    The message sent by Xi reiterated a pledge frequently delivered by senior Chinese officials on the world stage over the years. It also appeared to be a response to Trump’s appeal to Xi “to ‘open up’ China,” which he’d promised to make as his first request on behalf of the business leaders accompanying him to Beijing.

    In his remarks on Thursday, Xi added that he believes US firms will have even broader prospects in China, CCTV reported.

    Read more here.

  • Oil steadies ahead of highly-watched Trump-Xi meeting

    Bloomberg reports:

    Oil steadied ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, which is being held against the backdrop of the Iran war that shows no signs of a near-term resolution.

    West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) traded near $101 a barrel after declining 1.1% in the previous session. Brent (BZ=F) crude closed below $106. Trump is scheduled to meet Xi on Thursday, and the US leader told reporters this week that trade talks will be prioritized rather than discussions about the Middle East conflict.

    The war has led to global oil inventories shrinking at a record pace, and the market will remain “severely undersupplied” until October even if the conflict ends next month, according to the International Energy Agency. Ahead of the Trump-Xi summit, the US threatened banks and sanctioned more entities over the sale of Iranian oil to China, the biggest buyer of its crude.

    The flow of crude and fuels through the crucial Strait of Hormuz fell by nearly 6 million barrels per day in the first quarter, following the start of hostilities at the end of February, according to the Energy Information Administration. Only a trickle of tankers have been able to exit the Persian Gulf during the war.

    Read more here.



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