· Stocks closed higher on Friday, boosted by bank shares, as investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Wall Street also wrapped up its best first half to a year in two decades.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 73.38 points to 26,599.96 as J.P. Morgan Chase shares outperformed. The 30-stock index rallied more than 7% this month, notching its biggest June gain since 1938.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.6% to 2,941.74, led by the financials sector. For the month, the S&P 500 jumped 6.9%, its best June performance since 1955. The broad index is also up more than 17% this year, marking its biggest first-half gain since 1997.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5% to end the day at 8,006.24. The tech-heavy index also rallied 7.4% this month.

· U.S. stock futures surged on Sunday night after the U.S. and China agreed to hold off on slapping additional tariffs on their products in an effort to resume trade talks.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded 240 points higher, implying a gain of 236 points at Monday’s open. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also rose sharply, implying gains of 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively.

Those gains prime Wall Street to start the second half of the year with a bang following a big first half. The S&P 500 rallied more than 17% to start off 2019, notching its best first half in more than 20 years.

That surge came after stocks recovered in June from a torrid May performance. The Dow soared 7.2% in June, its biggest gain for that month since 1938. The S&P 500, meanwhile, jumped 7.9% for the month, marking its best June performance since 1955.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed not to impose new levies on U.S. and Chinese goods after meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan on Saturday.

· European markets closed higher Friday as investors track developments at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet amid the ongoing trade war.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally 0.7% higher. Autos and basic resources, two sectors particularly sensitive to trade-related news, rose around 0.8% and 1.5% respectively.

· Asia Pacific markets mostly rose in Monday morning trade after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to hold off on slapping additional tariffs in an effort to resume trade talks.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.62% in early trade, with shares on index heavyweight and robot maker Fanuc soaring 2.08%. The Topix index also gained 1.5%.

South Korea’s Kospi added 0.57% as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix advanced 1.73%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.55%.

Reference: CNBC