US pre-open: Futures point to gains as cooling of trade tensions lifts markets
Wall Street futures had stocks opening higher on Friday as the cooling of trade tensions between the US and China looked set to helped markets for a second day in a row.
As of 1200 BST, Dow futures were ahead 0.64%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.63% and 0.66% firmer, respectively.
Stocks finished higher in the previous session after China revealed its desire to calmly wrap up its trade war with the US, giving investor sentiment a much-needed boost.
Although futures initially had stocks opening lower on Friday, major indices made an about-face in the early hours of the morning.
Donald Trump stated overnight that preliminary trade discussions with Beijing had taken place on Thursday, with more set to follow in the coming weeks. China had already made it clear that it would not retaliate immediately in the trade dispute.
Oanda's Craig Erlam said: "We may be facing up to the reality of recession but optimism continues to flow through the veins of investors following comments from the Chinese Commerce Ministry on Thursday."
But Erlam noted that as long as the lines of communication were open there was hope, even if there seemed to be very little sense of urgency from either side.
On the data front, personal income and consumer spending figures for July were scheduled to be published at 1330 BST alongside the latest monthly and annualised core personal consumption expenditures index.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment figures for July and the Chicago Purchasing Manager's index will follow later in the session.
In the corporate space, Campbell's Soup and Big Lots will post their latest quarterly figures throughout the course of the day.