Asian stocks looked set to start the week with gains. Signs of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations lifted American equities Friday and sent Treasury yields higher, though sentiment may be capped as investors voiced skepticism on the accord. The pound retreated as European Union negotiators put another dent in Brexit optimism. (Bloomberg) U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told his Cabinet on Sunday that a Brexit deal can be achieved, but EU negotiators didn’t seem to agree: They rather bluntly warned that his plans are not yet good enough to be the basis for an agreement. That warning seemed to echo the mood in Brussels. Chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier briefed the bloc’s government envoys that talks had not made enough progress, according to two officials familiar with the matter. (Bloomberg) President Donald Trump is ordering the remaining US forces out of northern Syria, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday, a development that has paralyzed the fight against ISIS and ceded US and Kurdish battlefield gains to Moscow and Damascus. "We have American forces likely caught between two opposing, advancing armies and it"s a very untenable situation. I spoke with the President last night, after discussions with the rest of the national security team, and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria," Esper said on CBS. (CNN)