Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to higher opening bell on Tuesday amid hopes that Washington and China are making progress in trade talks as they end a two-day meeting in Beijing.
The S&P 500 futures rose 16 points or 0.65% as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures gained 161 points, or 0.68%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 41 points, or 0.64%.
On Monday Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC that there is a “very good chance” a deal can be reached. The two countries have until March 1 to make a deal before tariffs are increased.
"The discussions between the U.S and China will take some time but I think the markets are prepared to move in the right direction on positive signals," SEB investment management's global head of asset allocation Hans Peterson said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government shutdown continues, with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to speak Tuesday evening on the shutdown and building a wall on the border with Mexico. Trump has said he will not sign a budget unless it includes funding for a wall, leading to an impasse with Congress.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) jumped 1.26% in premarket trading after the e-commerce giant took the lead with the highest market capitalization at the close on Monday, at $796.78 billion. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rose 0.88% after the streaming network won five Golden Globe awards, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 0.76% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was up 0.43%.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) increased 1.82% after news that its new self-driving platform will be ready in 2020.
Elsewhere, Mastercard (NYSE:MA) dipped 1.63% after it dropped its name from its logo.
In economic news, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTs) numbers for November come out at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
In commodities, gold futures decreased 0.43% to $1,284.35 a troy ounce, while crude oil rose 1.55% to $49.27 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.20% to 95.42.
-Reuters contributed to this report.