Futures are flat premarket as the market digests a cluster of policy headlines. Washington's tone hardened after USTR Jamieson Greer warned Beijing not to retaliate against foreign companies investing in U.S. critical industries, in response to China's move sanctioning the U.S. units of Korea's Hanwha Ocean. At the same time, the U.S. and Australia signed a critical-minerals pact to co-finance mining and processing projects—an explicit bid to dilute China's leverage over rare earths. Nikkei flirted with 50k as Sanae Takaichi became the country's first female prime minister, with investors leaning into the prospect of continued pro-growth policy. Seasonals are a tailwind into year-end as Q4 has historically been the SPX6735.13's strongest quarter. But keep one eye on AI-capex proxies, such as Oracle, NVDA182.94, and AVGO349.35, as a sentiment tell: if they trade flat or down on good news (e.g., new AI infrastructure spending), it would signal the end of the run.

ES1!6771.25 resistance levels: 6785-6788, 6806-6808

ES support levels: 6760-6765, 6738-6740