published May 20, 2018, 5:27:09 PM, by Cormac Mullen
(Bloomberg) —

Asian stocks are set to start the week higher and U.S. equity futures jumped after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump administration won’t impose tariffs on Chinese products for now.

Japanese futures rose in Chicago while S&P 500 contracts gained 0.7 percent, an unusually large gain for early Asian trading. Oil futures also climbed. Mnuchin said the U.S. was “putting the trade war on hold,” amid progress in talks between the two nations. Stocks had closed lower Friday and Treasury yields dropped under 3.1 percent amid mixed signals on trade.

Investors this week will be keeping a close eye on the minutes of May’s Federal Reserve meeting, to be released Wednesday, along with preliminary purchasing manager indexes in the euro zone. Geopolitics remains in focus as South Korea’s president visits Washington to discuss North Korea and Brexit negotiations resume in Brussels.

Elsewhere, the euro steadied near a five-month low as Italy’s two populist leaders agreed on a prime minister and are set to propose a cabinet as early as Monday.

Terminal users can read more in our markets live blog.

These are some key events to watch this week:

On Monday, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari all speak at various events. Brexit negotiations resume in Brussels Tuesday, and South Korea’s president visits Washington to discuss North Korea Also Tuesday, Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg is to be grilled by the European Parliament on his company’s use of personal data. Federal Reserve releases minutes of policy makers’ May 1-2 meeting on Wednesday; U.S. new home sale also released as are euro-area and Japan PMIs Thursday sees the Bank of England Markets Forum at Bloomberg London. Speakers include BOE Governor Mark Carney and New York Fed President William Dudley At the St. Petersburg Forum Friday, Presidents Putin and Emmanuel Macron, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe participate on a panel moderated by Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait Also Friday, European Union finance ministers discuss the latest on Brexit talks, in Brussels.
These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

Nikkei 225 futures up 0.4% in Chicago S&P 500 futures up 0.7% S&P 500 closed down 0.3% Friday

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3 percent Friday The Japanese yen fell less than 0.05 percent to 110.83 per dollar. The euro fell less than 0.05 percent to $1.1771.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries sank six basis points to 3.06 percent Friday.

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5 percent to $71.62 a barrel Monday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cormac Mullen in Tokyo at cmullen9@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net
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