Investing.com - U.S. futures rose slightly on Friday, amid further tentative signs of detente between the U.S. and China on trade.
President Donald Trump has issued temporary exempted over 400 types of Chinese goods from Christmas lights to plastic straws, CNBC reported earlier.
That news follows the resumption of talks between mid-level trade officials that are meant to clear the way for higher-level trade discussions in early October. Chinese delegates are expected to stay on until next week to visit farming areas, according to various reports.
Uncertainty still remains as the two sides have a long way to go to resolve their trade differences.
“An interim deal could be within reach because both sides seem to have an interest in this,” analysts at Danske Bank wrote in a note to clients. “However, the two would need to agree on how much [agricultural products] China needs to buy, which might not be easy.”
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that "it's more complicated" than a simple discussion over how many soybeans China should buy.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday that "it's more complicated" than a simple discussion over how many soybeans China should buy.
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 23 points or 0.3% by 6:51 AM ET (10:51 GMT), while Dow futures gained 57 points or 0.2% and S&P 500 futures were up 6 points or 0.2%.
Semiconductors were higher in premarket trading, with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) up 0.4%, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) rising 0.6% and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)jumped 0.8%.
Elsewhere, streaming device company Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) lost another 5.2% on concerns that new streaming devices from Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) will grab market share from it. Roku is now down 21% so far this month.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) dipped 0.9%, while Altria Group (NYSE:MO) inched down 0.3% after reports of an eighth death in the U.S. linked to vaping.
On the central banking front, a flurry of speeches from policymakers are expected. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan and New York Fed President John Williams are all due to speak, with Williams' speech in particular due to draw special attention given the New York Fed's role in managing the U.S. money market, which has suffered unusual sustained stress this week.
In commodities, crude oil futures gained 0.9% to $58,73 a barrel. Gold futures were up 0.4% to $1,511.45 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.1% to 97.968.