Futures rise as partial trade deal, tariff delay hopes grow

[October 11, 2019]  By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose strongly on Friday, as hopes grew for a partial trade deal and a delay in scheduled U.S. tariff increases, as top negotiators from the United States and China geared up to meet for a second day of talks.

Early market action showed Wall Street's three main indexes were headed for their third straight day of gains, after ending the previous session on optimism that the two sides could cool off their row before more U.S. tariffs kick in next week.

President Donald Trump said trade talks between the U.S. and Chinese officials on Thursday went well, and is set to meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He later in the day.

Still, the S&P 500 <.SPX> and Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> indexes were set for their fourth straight weekly fall, with risk appetite recently taking a hit from weak economic data and headlines about the U.S.-China trade war.

Chipmakers, which are heavily exposed to China, rose steadily in premarket trading. Intel Corp <INTC.O>, Nvidia Corp <NVDA.O> and Advanced Micro Devices Inc <AMD.O> all rose about 1.5%, while Apple Inc <AAPL.O> gained 1.3%.

Wedbush hiked its price target for shares of the iPhone maker, as the brokerage remained bullish on the official launch of the company's Apple TV+ video streaming service.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., October 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Other gainers included oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> and Chevron Corp <CVX.N>, which rose 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively as a report of an attack on an Iranian oil tanker lifted oil prices. [O/R]

At 7:16 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMcv1> were up 248 points, or 0.94%. S&P 500 e-minis <EScv1> were up 28.5 points, or 0.97% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQcv1> were up 88 points, or 1.13%.

Focus will shift to earnings next week as market participants brace for the impact of the trade war on Corporate America. Analysts are expecting a 3.1% drop in earnings for the third quarter from a year ago, based on IBES data from Refinitiv, and that could mark the first decline since 2016.

Investors are also betting on a third interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve by the end of the month, to battle an economic downturn in the world's largest economy.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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