On the last day of 2018 trading, the US stock futures led a bullish rally, as investors pulled inspiration from trade headlines steering hopes of progress between the US and China on trade. A day before, on Sunday, US President Donald Trump tweeted that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had made “big progress” in a telephone conversation about trade and that a deal was “moving along very well.”

The market is still a bit uncertain over sentiments that Trump may be exaggerating progress in a bid to calm financial markets before the year-end.

How are benchmarks performing?

• S&P 500 ( SPX ) soars to 2,506.38, adding +0.82%
• Dow30 (DJIA) trades at 23,062.40, down -0.33%
• FTSE trades bullish at 6,742.16, adding +0.12% today
• DAX (German30) edged higher to trade at 10,558.96, up +1.71% today