US pre-open: Futures have stocks opening higher ahead of 2020's first session

US futures had stocks opening higher on the first day of 2020 thanks to some encouraging news out of China.

As of 1200 GMT, Dow futures were ahead 0.53%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.52% and 0.66% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 76.30 points firmer on Tuesday as Wall Street's banner year came to an end.

Sentiment received a boost late on Tuesday after the US President, Donald Trump, revealed he would be signing a first phase trade deal with China at the White House on 15 January.

Trump also announced that he would be heading to Beijing at a later date to initiate phase two talks.

Also in focus was news that China's central bank will cut the required reserve ratio for commercial lenders by 50 basis points from 6 January to help bolster its slowing economy.

According to the People’s Bank of China, the move will release around 800bn yuan (£87.0bn) of liquidity into the financial system. As it stands, the required reserve ratio is 13.0% for big banks and 11.0% for smaller ones.

SpreadEx analyst Connor Campbell said: "China kicked off 2020 with a belated Christmas present for the markets, the effects of which were still being felt on Thursday.

"That this comes after the 'phase one' trade agreement with the USA – set to be signed on January 15th – caused the markets to have a very merry start to the New Year."

On the data front, initial jobless claims will be posted at 1330 GMT, while December's manufacturing PMI from IHS Markit will be published at 1445 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Thursday.