S&P 500 futures rose on Monday, boosted by technology stocks, as investors look toward the Federal Reserve meeting later this week. Futures tied to the broad market index gained 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 24 points, or 0.1%. In the premarket, Oracle shares climbed 2% amid investor optimism ahead of the company’s quarterly results on Wednesday, while Broadcom shares jumped 3% on the heels of The Information reporting that Microsoft is discussing designing custom chips with the chipmaker. Confluent shares surged 29% after IBM said that it’s going to acquire the company in an $11 billion deal — which is expected to close by the middle of 2026. Monday’s action comes after a second positive week in a row for the three major indexes. The Dow and Nasdaq Composite added 0.5% and 0.9%, respectively, in the week. The S&P 500 added around 0.3% last week, bringing the broad index about 0.7% off its all-time intraday high. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also notched four-day winning streaks on Friday, while the Dow has been positive in three of the last four sessions. Stocks received a boost on Friday after the delayed release of September’s core personal consumption expenditures price index came in softer than economists anticipated. That was one of the last major economic releases ahead of the Fed’s policy gathering taking place this week. Traders have grown increasingly hopeful over recent weeks that the Fed will lower interest rates at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which is the final one of the year. Fed funds futures are pricing in a roughly 90% chance of a decrease, up from under 67% a month ago, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. “Markets are appropriately focused on an interest rate cut or hold coming out of … [the] FOMC meeting,” Eric Freedman, Northern Trust’s chief investment officer for wealth management, wrote to clients. But, “investors are perhaps more interested in dynamics surrounding voting-member outlooks and future Fed leadership.” There is no economic data of note due Monday, but the New York Fed is releasing its survey of consumer expectations in the morning. Investors will keep an eye on earnings from companies such as Lululemon, Costco, Broadcom, Oracle and Adobe slated for this week. U.S. Treasury yields held steady Monday as expectations continued to rise on an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday. The 10-year Treasury yield was up more than 1 basis point at 4.157%, as was the 30-year Treasury yield at 4.81%. The 2-year Treasury yield climbed more than a basis point as well to 3.579%. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Monday as investors parsed fresh trade data from China. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 1.12%, while the CSI 300 rose 0.81% to close at 4,621.75 after China’s exports jumped more than expected in November. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.18% to 50,581.94, while the Topix climbed 0.65% to close at 3,384.31. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.34% to 4,154.85, and the small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.33% higher to close at 927.79. Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 slid 0.12% to 8,624.4. Oil prices declined on Monday as investors monitored ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine ahead of an expected U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week. Brent crude futures fell by 57 cents, or 0.9%, to $63.18 a barrel by 1053 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $59.48, down 60 cents, or 1%. Both contracts closed Friday’s trading session at their highest levels since November 18. Gold prices rose on Monday, driven by growing expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut that pressured the dollar, ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting this week. Spot gold rose 0.2% to $4,206.36 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for February delivery fell 0.2% to $4,235.60 per ounce.