US pre-open: Futures point to gains with trade firmly in focus
Stock futures had major US indices opening higher on Thursday amid hopes that the world's two largest economies could finally call a truce in their ongoing trade war.
As of 1230 BST, Dow futures had the index opening 0.02% higher, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 looked set to start the session 0.19% and 0.28% firmer, respectively.
Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 closing weaker but the Nasdaq seeing out the session with a 0.32% gain on the back of a rally in the tech space ahead of a key meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week's G-20 summit in Japan.
Focus will again by mostly centred on global trade developments on Thursday, after Trump said a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart could potentially lead to a trade deal. However, the President also warned that he was happy to slap more tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports if talks faltered once again.
The South China Morning Post revealed overnight that officials from Washington and Beijing had tentatively agreed to resume talks, while the Wall Street Journal reported that Xi was expected to present Trump with his terms on Thursday ahead of the meeting.
A truce will halt previously threatened US tariffs on an additional $300bn of Chinese exports, which were announced after trade talks collapsed in May, and will reportedly be announced with added detail by coordinated press releases from Washington and Beijing.
However, China was reportedly also set to demand that Washington lift its ban on the sale of US technology to telecoms equipment maker Huawei
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are also due to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, while further figures have been added to both delegations over the course of the past week.
Ahead of the open, analysts at TD Securities said: "Markets turned attention to the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting this Saturday. Rumours of progress being made before the G-20 boosted risk sentiment, with European bourses firmer and US equity futures pointing to gains at the open."
On the data front, first-quarter gross domestic product figures and weekly initial jobless claims figures will be posted at 1330 BST, while pending home sales for May will come at 1500 BST and Kansas City Fed survey data for June will be published at 1600 BST.
In corporate news, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Accenture and Nike will report their latest quarterly results on Thursday.
Ford shares ticked up 0.91% in pre-market trading after announcing it would be cutting 12,000 jobs.