Stocks notched new record closing highs to start Fed week as market participants cheered encouraging U.S.-China trade headlines. A big rally in tech stocks ahead of this week's onslaught of mega-cap earnings also helped start the week on a high note.

The stock market is in the midst of a “goldilocks” environment where growth is steady without irrational exuberance, according to Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. Third-quarter earnings have been strong and trade tensions between the U.

Stocks spiked to al-time highs to start the week. extending gains from Friday's record-setting rally. Chips and rare earth stocks were among the big movers.

Live Updates Live Coverage Updates appear automatically as they are published. Updates will appear here as they are published. Markets are pushing aggressively higher again. At the moment, futures are exploding.

The stock market rally has already defied expectations this year, shrugging off geopolitical strife, economic uncertainty and global trade tensions to reach fresh record highs. Some analysts say the rally might just be getting started.

The first MVP in First Trade history is Chen Tianshi, the founder and CEO of China-based AI chip startup Cambricon Technologies, which has been called China's Nvidia by retail traders.

Chen Tianshi is the 40-year-old founder and CEO of Beijing-based Cambricon, an AI chip company that posted a monster earnings report last week.

China’s central bank pledged to keep the country’s stock, bond and foreign-exchange markets stable, and said it will further promote the internationalization of the yuan to expand its use in cross-border payments.