By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch

Shares of Halliburton slip 0.4% in premarket action Monday

U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Monday as optimism over tariff talks and between Washington and Beijing persists. Over the weekend, China negotiator Vice Premier Liu He described the so-called "phase one" Sino-American negotiations as having made "substantial progress," laying the groundwork for the first leg of a trade pact.

On top of that, third-quarter corporate results have mostly come in better-than-feared.

How are major indexes performing?

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 45 points, or 0.2%, at 26,800, those for the S&P 500 were up 12.55 points, or 0.4%, at 3,000.75, while Nasdaq-100 futures were gaining 39.50 points, or 0.5%, at 7,920.25.

Last week, the Dow declined 0.2%, falling for four of the past five weeks, the S&P 500 index rose 0.5%, notching two consecutive weekly gains, while the Nasdaq Composite Index produced a weekly advance of 0.4% and has gained for three consecutive weeks.

The Dow stands 2.2% from its July 15 record finish, the S&P 500 is off 1.3% from its all-time closing high set on July 26, while the Nasdaq is off 2.9% from its July 26 record close, as of Friday's finish.

What's driving the market?

China's Vice Premier Liu He said Washington and Beijing have laid the groundwork for success in the first phase of its attempt to carve out a resolution to its trade disagreement. "China and the U.S. have made substantial progress in many aspects, and laid an important foundation for a phase one agreement," said China's top trade negotiator at a technology conference in Nanchang, Jiangxi, on Saturday, Bloomberg News reported (paywall) (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-19/china-s-liu-confirms-phase-one-of-u-s-trade-deal-is-in-progress?cmpid=BBD102119_MKT&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=191021&utm_campaign=markets).

Meanwhile, U.K. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to ask the European Union for a three-month extension to the Oct. 31 deadline to exit from the trade bloc, representing the latest setback for the British leader and the country's yearslong attempt to forge an orderly separation.

Read:What a Brexit deal would mean for U.S. stocks and global investors (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-a-brexit-deal-would-mean-for-us-stocks-and-global-investors-2019-10-17)

Markets have been focused on the threat of Britain crashing out of the EU without a trade agreement, which some fear could disrupt global markets.

In corporate earnings, of the roughly two dozen S&P 500 companies that have reported third-quarter results, 83.6% have produced results that are above analysts' expectations, according to Refinitiv. By comparison, the long-term average of earnings outperformance is 65%.

Some 130 S&P 500 companies, or a quarter of the index, are expected to report quarterly earnings this week.

"We expect a mixed to positive session as earnings continue to uplift investors sentiment even though Brexit situation is closely eyed," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in a research note.

Which stocks are in focus?

Shares of Halliburton Co.(HAL)slipped in premarket trading Monday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/halliburtons-stock-falls-after-profit-matches-expectations-but-revenue-falls-below-2019-10-21), after the oil-services company reported a third-quarter profit that was in line with expectations but revenue that fell below, amid lower pressure pumping activity and reduced drilling and wireline activity.

Boeing Co.'s stock (BA) was extending its decline to a two month low following a report on Friday that said that internal messages suggest the company misled federal aviation authorities (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boeing-stock-at-its-lowest-in-two-months-after-report-jet-maker-may-have-misled-faa-2019-10-18) about the safety of the 737 MAX jet.

Shares of McDermott International Inc.(MDR) is set to surge at the open (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdermotts-stock-rockets-after-new-17-billion-financing-deal-2019-10-21)after the company announced an agreement on $1.7 billion in new financing. This comes amid reports that McDermott was in talks to restructure its balance sheet.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's U.S.-listed stock (TEVA.TV)fell in premarket (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mckesson-cardinal-health-amerisource-bergen-and-teva-stocks-all-fall-after-settling-with-ohio-counties-on-opioid-suit-2019-10-21) trade after several drug companies reached a settlement with two Ohio counties in opioid lawsuits, according to a report form The Wall Street Journal.

How are other markets performing?

The 10-year Treasury note yield gained 3.3 basis points to trade at 1.780%.

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery shed 23 cents, or 0.4%, at $53.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold for December delivery on Comex rose by 60 cents, or less than 0.1%, at $1,494.70 an ounce.

The ICE U.S. dollar index , which tracks the performance of the greenback against its major rivals, fell less than 0.1% to 97.187 on Monday.

Global stock-markets were also trading higher at the start of the week. The Stoxx Europe 600 as up more than 0.5% to 394.00. In Asia, Japan's Topix index gained 0.4% and China's CSI 300 index finished up 0.3%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2019 08:54 ET (12:54 GMT)