US pre-open: Futures move higher on debt ceiling talk hopes

Wall Street futures were advancing ahead of Friday's market open as investors digested news of progress in talks to lift the US debt ceiling.

Investor sentiment was also buoyed by news that US National Security advisor Jake Sullivan had met with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, in a bid to lower tensions.

As of 1304 BST, Dow Jones mini futures were trading 124 points higher to 33,495.0, alongside a 13.75 rise for those tracking the S&P 500 to 4,147.50.

Futures for the Nasdaq-100 meanwhile were up by 22.5 points to 113,649.0.

Overnight, US President Joe Biden and the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, postponed until the following week a meeting that had been scheduled to take place on Friday.

The announcement sparked optimism that aides for both sides had made progress, something that was later reportedly confirmed.

Concern was that the federal government might run into the debt ceiling as soon as 1 June.

On the economic calendar at the end of the week, at 1330 BST the Department of Labor was scheduled to release the import price index for April.

It would be followed at 1500 BST by the preliminary results of the University of Michigan's consumer confidence survey for May (consensus: 63.0).