US pre-open: Futures point to positive open as Washington grants Huawei temporary reprieve
Wall Street futures had stocks opening higher on Monday after news broke over the weekend the Commerce Department would grant Chinese telco giant Huawei a further 90-day reprieve, although in remarks made at the weekend, the US President appeared to call that possibility into question.
As of 1200 BST, Dow futures were up 0.98%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures had the indices opening 0.99% and 1.12% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 218.21 points higher on Friday following a mixed session the day before as a result of a strong set of results from Walmart and some positive economic data helping to offset worries over China vowing to counter the latest round of tariffs from the White House.
Sentiment will likely being buoyed by news that the Commerce Department was gearing up to extend Huawei a license for 90 days, which would allow it to continue to do business with US companies in order to service existing customers.
But with the current agreement set to end on Monday, the President said at the weekend that he may not want to do business with the firm, saying that it posed a national security threat.
"We’ll see what happens. I’m making a decision tomorrow," he said.
Also on Sunday, Trump said he did not believe there was any chance of a global recession in the immediate future despite the very volatile trading in global financial markets seen over the past week.
"I don't think we're having a recession," Trump told reporters.
"We're doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut and they're loaded up with money."
On the corporate front, Apple chief executive Tim Cook spoke with Trump over the weekend. The head of the Californian tech firm told the President that it would be difficult for Apple to compete as a result of the trade war, given that trade tariffs would likely cripple it, while Samsung would not have to face the same level of duties given that its manufacturing operations were located in South Korea.
In terms of earnings, Estee Lauder and Baidu will report during the session.
No data points were scheduled for release.