US open: Small gains push Dow Jones to three-month high
Trading on Wall Street opened with small gains on Monday ahead of a jam-packed week that includes a historic meeting between Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un and a policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.
At 1540 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 0.07% to 25,333.31, while the S&P 500 collected 0.17% to 2,783.81 and the Nasdaq picked up 0.07% to 7,650.85.
The Dow Jones added just 20 points after the bell, while only a minor increase, the gain took the index to its best price in three months.
Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at SpreadEx, said, "The markets took news that Donald Trump will be leaving Singapore a day early, meaning there's just 11 hours for some kind of nuclear agreement between the US and North Korea to be hashed out, in their stride, the latest red flag planted in the macro-political and economic landscape that investors are keen to ignore."
"While no pre-summit jitters have sunk it just yet, tomorrow could be a completely different story," he added.
Earlier, North Korean state media confirmed that Jong Un will discuss denuclearisation and a "permanent and durable peace-keeping mechanism" on the Korean Peninsula.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Trump's next meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday will be of interest as the US President looks to score a victory and distract from the country's souring relationship with its Western allies. Whether the two leaders are actually on the same page in regards to the goals of the meeting could determine just how successful the talks are but Trump in particular will be keen to be seen making progress towards denuclearisation."
Trump tweeted earlier that it was great to be in Singapore and that there was "excitement in the air".
Investors were also looking ahead to a very busy week that includes policy announcements from the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank. The Fed is expected to hike interest rates this week for the second time this year and lay the groundwork for at least one more, maybe even two given the progress made on its inflation goal, while the BoJ is expected to leave them on hold and the ECB is forecast to make an announcement on tapering.
In corporate news, Mars gained 2.55% as it announced the acquisition of European pet care business AniCura for an undisclosed sum.
Elsewhere, Envision Healthcare was trading 2.66% higher following reports that private equity group KKR was nearing a deal to buy the company for around $5.5bn.