Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening bell on Monday, as investors shrugged off trade war concern.
The S&P 500 futures was up 18 points or 0.70% to 2,624.0 as of 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT) while Dow futures increased 186 points or 0.78% to 24,112.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 57 points or 0.89% to 6,512.50.
All three indices closed sharply in the negative on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on China, prompting investor worry of a trade war between the two biggest countries in the world.
A disappointing jobs report also weighed on markets, with the Labor Department reporting an increase of 103,000 jobs in March, well below market expectation.
Trump tweeted over the weekend that China could remove its trade barriers but on Monday the Foreign Ministry of China blamed the U.S. for trade agitation.
“The United States with one hand wields the threat of sanctions, and at the same time says they are willing to talk. I’m not sure who the United States is putting on this act for,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 1.96%, while telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) increased 0.93% and Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) ADR (NASDAQ:VOD) was up 0.66%. Meanwhile Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBKGn) NA O.N. (NYSE:DB) surged 4.61% after it dismissed chief executive John Cryan.
Elsewhere Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) fell 2.35% while automobile firm Tata Motors Limited ADR (NYSE:TTM) was down 1.17% after reporting poor sales of its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 90 points or 0.74% while in France the CAC 40 increased 16 points or 0.31% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up one points or 0.02%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 21 points or 0.63% while Spain’s IBEX 35 surged 68 points or 0.70%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.41% to $1,330.60 a troy ounce while crude oil futures rose 0.23% to $62.20 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.12% to 89.93.