U.S. stock futures gain on China stimulus, tariff relief

[June 11, 2019]   By Aparajita Saxena

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to edge back toward record territory on Tuesday, as signs of more fiscal stimulus from China and some easing of last week's tensions around Mexico buoyed investors' appetite for risk.

Equity index futures were higher across the board in a signal that Wall Street's week-long recovery from a 6% loss in May appeared intact.

The S&P 500 has risen for five days and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained for six straight days since the start of June, its longest winning streak in 13 months.

Investors, worried by the prospect that President Donald Trump's hard bargaining on trade with Beijing and others could drive the economy back into recession, remained on edge after a U.S. pivot back on its tariff threat against China overnight.
 

Trump said late on Monday he was ready to impose another round of tariffs on Chinese imports if there was no progress in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit.

Trump has said he expects to meet Xi at a June 28-29 summit in Osaka, Japan, although China has yet to confirm any such meeting.

Meanwhile, China helped drive a rally in Asian and European shares by saying it would allow local governments to use proceeds from special bonds for major investment projects in a bid to support its slowing economy.

The news also lifted U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba Group Holdings, JD.com Inc and Baidu Inc, which rose between 1.9% and 2.1% in premarket trading.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., June 3, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

The marquee FAANG group of stocks - Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Netflix Inc and Alphabet Inc - climbed between 1% and 1.8%.

At 7:18 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 111 points, or 0.43%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.25 points, or 0.42% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 44.75 points, or 0.6%.

Sentiment was also helped by expectations of a cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in July.

Boeing rose 0.5%, ahead of the release of the planemaker's May aircraft delivery numbers later in the day.

Symantec Corp fell 4.5% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the antivirus software maker's stock to "underweight" from "equal-weight" on increased competition.

On the macro front, the Labor Department is expected to report producer prices at 8:30 a.m. ET, which is expected to have edged 0.1% higher in May, after a 0.2% rise in April.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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