US stocks point to strong start amid improved sentiment

Hopes of the U.S. and China reaching a trade deal ahead of the March 1 deadline allowed the risk-on mood to start dominating the markets ahead of Wall Street's opening bell. Talks between high-level officials from both sides concluded on Friday and are expected to continue next week in Washington. Reporting on trade discussion, "Both sides reached consensus in principle on major issues and had specific discussions about a memorandum of understanding on bilateral economic and trade issues," Chinese news agency Xinhua said.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters that they would continue to work ahead of the deadline and added that they were able to make progress in this week's negotiations. Sanders further explained that two main points of interest in talks were currency and technology transfer.

As of writing, both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 futures were up 0.5% on the day. Moreover, the 10-year T-bond yield gained traction with the safe-haven bonds struggling to find demand and was last up nearly 1% on the day.