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Futures up: Dow 0.46%, S&P 500 0.82%, Nasdaq 1.29%

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Rare earth miners fall on signs of U.S.-China trade deal

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U.S.-listed Argentina stocks gain after Milei's election

victory

(Updates with analyst comments, prices before the opening bell)

By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit

Oct 27 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes were poised to open at record

highs on Monday, as expectations of a U.S.-China trade truce

fueled risk-taking in a week packed with Big Tech earnings and a

likely Federal Reserve rate cut.

President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping are set to

meet on Thursday, after negotiators from the world's top two

economies on Sunday outlined the framework for a deal to pause

steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export

controls.

U.S. rare earth miners fell: MP Materials ( MP ), USA Rare

Earth ( USAR ) and NYSE-listed shares of Trilogy Metals

were down 4.4%, 6.1% and 5%, respectively.

At 08:19 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 220 points, or

0.46%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 329.25 points, or

1.29%, and S&P 500 E-minis were up 56 points, or 0.82%.

Wall Street's fear gauge, the VIX, hit a one-month

low. The volatility index had earlier this month touched its

highest level since April - when Trump rolled out his

"Liberation Day" tariffs.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies gained in premarket

trading. Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com were

up around 3% each. PDD Holdings ( PDD ) rose 2% and Baidu

added 5.1%.

Last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched

their biggest weekly gains since August thanks to

cooler-than-expected inflation data that solidified expectations

of a 25-basis-point rate cut from the central bank on Wednesday.

Any forward-looking comments from Fed Chair Jerome

Powell will be monitored for hints on another cut in December,

especially with the ongoing government shutdown disrupting key

economic data releases.

"The lack of official inflation data will be supportive of

the rally in the near term because monetary policy could be

operating with an increasingly blind spot heading into the new

year," said Jordan Rizzuto, CIO at GammaRoad Capital Partners.

BLOCKBUSTER EARNINGS

As the busiest week of this earnings season kicks off,

more than 170 companies are expected to report and all eyes will

be on Big Tech.

Earnings from "Magnificent Seven" heavyweights Microsoft ( MSFT )

, Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet, Amazon ( AMZN ),

and Meta will act as a litmus test for Wall Street's

lofty valuations, the staying power of the rally and the

long-term viability of outsized bets on artificial intelligence.

The seven megacaps together make up nearly 35% of the

S&P 500 benchmark, which is now expected to see third-quarter

earnings growth of 10.4% year-on-year, higher than an earlier

estimate of 8.8%, according to LSEG data.

"If the economy softens enough, it could alleviate concerns

about inflationary pressures, but it could introduce pressure on

earnings growth, which needs to catch up with valuation

expansion to sustain this rally going into 2026," Rizzuto said.

In premarket trading, U.S.-listed shares Of Argentine

companies jumped after President Javier Milei's election

victory.

YPF surged 31%, while Grupo Supervielle

gained 38%. Banco Macro and Banco BBVA Argentina

rose 40% each and Grupo Financiero Galicia

advanced 39%.

Keurig Dr Pepper ( KDP ) jumped 8% after raising its annual

sales forecast.

MP Materials ( MP ) fell 4.4%, with USA Rare Earth ( USAR )

and NYSE-listed shares of Trilogy Metals down 6.1% and

5%, respectively.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru;

Editing by Pooja Desai and Devika Syamnath)