US pre-open: Stocks look set to continue rally into fourth straight session
Stocks on Wall Street looked set to extend their rally into a fourth straight session on Friday amid hopes of progress on trade talks between the US and Mexico.
As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.33% at 25,831, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were calling the indices to open 0.34% and 0.48% higher, respectively.
The Dow looked to continue its solid performance over the last few days after closing 181 points higher on Thursday despite Donald Trump doing his best to turn markets' attention away from comments made by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell earlier in the week where he indicated the central bank would be open to easing monetary policy in order to save the economy.
The President dampened sentiment after reigniting tensions with China on Thursday, telling reporters at Shannon Airport in Ireland that, if necessary, Washington might impose tariffs on the $300bn-worth of Chinese which had not yet been targeted. He vowed to make a decision on the tariffs "probably right after the G-20" summit ends on 29 June.
Meanwhile, Mexican ambassador to the US Martha Barcena Coqui told CNBC on Thursday that negotiations with the White House had involved a "very good discussion".
The US' southern neighbour agreed to send its national guard to its border with Guatemala in order to stem the flow of undocumented migrants hoping to reach the US, according to Reuters.
Major US indices took a turn for the best later in Thursday's session after Bloomberg reported that the White House was considering delaying Trump's threatened tariffs on Mexico as talks on immigration and drug smuggling continued.
In terms of economic data ahead of the weekend, all eyes will be firmly focussed on the latest non-farm payrolls out of the US at 1330 BST.
Economists expect payrolls to reveal the US had added roughly 180,000 jobs during May. The figure could dramatically impact the Fed's current thought process surrounding lowering interest rates.
Wholesale trade inventories for April were set to be published at 1500 BST.
On the corporate front, sofa maker La-Z Boy, retailer Sears and hot dog maker Nathan's Famous will all post results on Friday.