09:10 AM EDT, 06/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Traders showed cautious optimism pre-bell Monday amid persistent concerns about the impact of the US trade war with China and frayed relations between the federal government and the tech sector following Tesla (TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk's public falling out with President Donald Trump.

S&P 500 futures were both up around 0.2%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq futures inched up 0.1%.

Religious holidays across Europe and the Middle East subdued trading volumes as senior Washington and Beijing officials were to meet at an undisclosed location in London for daylong talks over their trade dispute. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng to build on a 90-day suspension of most of the 100%-plus tariffs the countries had imposed on each other.

Investors are also concerned about indications that a potential truce between Trump and Musk was off the table following their public falling out.

Trump told NBC News over the weekend he had no desire to reconcile with Musk, and noted that it was within his power to nix federal contracts granted to the billionaire's company.

Tesla shares were down nearly 2% in the premarket session, while shares of rival space company Rocket Lab advanced by nearly 6%

Oil prices were up, with the front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 0.7% to $66.92 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 0.7% higher at $65.01 per barrel.

The Wholesale Inventories report for April, scheduled for release at 10 am ET, is expected to be flat, indicating that businesses remain cautious about the economy's future prospects.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.9% higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.6% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.4% higher. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 0.2%, and Germany's DAX index was down 0.7% in Europe's early afternoon session.

Among US equities, shares of Circle Internet ( CRCL ) , the company behind the USDC stablecoin, were up more than 16% pre-bell following the company's stock market debut last week. Electric aircraft company Joby Aviation ( JOBY ) was up 9.3%, joining other air mobility stocks in advancing after President Trump's executive order on Friday to ramp up US spending on drones.

Among decliners, shares of Robinhood Markets ( HOOD ) were down 3.2% pre-bell after it was downgraded to sell from neutral by Redburn Atlantic, while Motorsport Games (MSGM) fell more than 10% following an insurance settlement with Wesco (WCC).