Stock futures rise as trade concerns take a back seat

[July 09, 2018]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, drawing strength from healthy U.S. jobs data last week that helped investors look past rising trade tensions between the United States and China.

Chipmakers Micron <MU.O> and Advanced Micro Devices <AMD.O> rose more than 1.5 percent in premarket trading, as trade fears eased. A host of Chinese companies with listings on U.S. bourses — Alibaba <BABA.N>, JD.com <JD.O> and Baidu <BIDU.O> also climbed.

The United States and China engaged in tit-for-tat tariffs on Friday, both countries imposing duties worth $34 billion on each others' goods. But the benchmark S&P 500 <.SPX> closed up 0.84 percent on Friday as analysts said the move was already priced in, but warned that further escalation could dent the appetite for stocks.

China's securities regulator said on Sunday it plans to ease restrictions on foreign investment in stocks listed on the Shanghai or Shenzhen exchanges to attract more foreign capital and support the economy.

The sentiment was largely upbeat after Friday's U.S. payrolls report showed tame wages and more people looking for work, boosting optimism that the Federal Reserve would stay on a path of gradual interest rate increases.

At 7:17 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 114 points, or 0.47 percent. S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were up 11 points, or 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were up 29.25 points, or 0.4 percent.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., July 6, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

All eyes will turn to second-quarter earnings reports, with banks JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N>, Wells Fargo <WFC.N> and Citigroup <C.N> scheduled to report on Friday.

S&P 500 companies are expected to report 21 percent growth in earnings per share for the June quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. But focus will be on any warnings companies might give about the impact of trade tariffs.

Tesla <TSLA.O> was up 0.8 percent after a report that the electric carmaker hiked prices of its Model X and S cars by over $20,000 in China due to tariffs.

Groupon shares <GRPN.O> jumped 13.1 percent after a Recode report that the daily deals website operator was looking for a buyer.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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