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The U.S. – China Summit pointed to trade stabilization between the two countries, but higher energy prices kept a lid on market advances last week. For the week, the S&P 500 Index was +0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrials -0.1%, and the NASDAQ -0.3%. The Energy, Consumer Staples, and Technology sectors led the S&P 500 Index for the week, while the Consumer Discretionary, Real Estate, and Materials sectors lagged. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield was 4.595% at Friday’s close versus 4.370% the previous week.
Inflation has remained elevated due to energy prices. The April Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed prices 0.6% higher month-over-month and core CPI, which excluded the impact of food and energy prices, was +0.4% month-over-month. On a year-over-year comparison, CPI was +3.8% and core CPI was +2.8%.
Kevin Warsh has been confirmed as the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Warsh’s first Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting will be June 16 – 17th and the FOMC should publish an updated Summary of Economic Projections at the meeting. This should highlight monetary policy expectations for the remainder of the year.
We move into the final leg of the quarterly earnings reporting period with 91% of companies having already reported. This week 18 companies are scheduled to report results. First quarter earnings are expected to grow by 27.7% and quarterly revenue growth is expected at 11.4%. Full-year 2026 earnings are expected to grow by 21.5% with revenue growth of 10.3%.
In our Dissecting Headlines section, we look at the business outcomes of the U.S.—China Summit.
Financial Market Update
Dissecting Headlines: U.S. – China Summit
President Trump traveled to China last week to meet with Chinese President Xi. In addition to U.S. government officials, the delegation included executives from major U.S. companies to include Apple, Blackrock, Blackstone, Boeing, Cargill, Cisco, Citigroup, Coherent, GE Aerospace, Goldman Sachs, Illumina, Mastercard, Meta, Micron Technologies, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Tesla, and Visa, seeking to expand business opportunities in China.
The most significant business announcements included China agreeing to purchase 200 Boeing aircraft and related engines from GE Aerospace. China also pledged to expand purchases of U.S. agricultural products by $17 billion per year through 2028 for corn, soybeans, pork, poultry, beef, and other commodities. Combined with prior soybean commitments, this would bring total annual agricultural purchases from China to around $27 billion.
Discussions also included the potential for increased U.S. LNG and other energy exports to China, expanded access for financial services firms, and continued dialogue for cooperation in various technology areas to include artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
Beyond the aerospace and agricultural commitments, other discussions were an effort to re-start business dialogues between the countries. The broad takeaway from the summit regarding business and economics is an effort from both sides to be pragmatic toward sector-by-sector discussions where cooperation is a better course of action and acknowledgement that it is necessary for the two countries to be rivals in other sectors where the countries compete.
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Want a printable version of this report? Click here: NovaPoint Weekly May 18, 2026
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