Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening bell on Friday as trade worry eased.
The S&P 500 futures rose over half a point or 0.03% to 2,940.25 as of 6:51 AM ET (10:51 GMT) while Dow futures gained 34 points, or 0.13%, to 26,761.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 4 points, or 0.06%, to 7,613.00.
Trade tensions eased but remained in the back of investors minds as tit-for-tat tariffs escalated between the U.S. and China this week. On Tuesday China said it would impose new tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion, effective September 24, while the U.S. imposed a 10% tariff on $200 billion in Chinese goods, which will go up to 25% at the end of the year.
Chinese e-commerce firm Jd.Com Inc Adr (NASDAQ:JD) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, rising 1.93% while Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) surged 2.01%. General Electric (NYSE:GE) inched up 0.48% while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) gained 0.20% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inched up 0.29%.
Elsewhere medical marijuana firm Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY) slumped 8.14% while semiconductor Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) fell 5.45% after its chief financial officer said the company's gross margins will suffer due to tariffs between the U.S. and China. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was down 0.38% after reports that the luxury carmaker is losing another executive.
In economic news, the IHS Markit will release its measure of U.S. manufacturing and services activity at 9:45 AM ET (13:45 GMT).
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 92 points or 0.75% while in France the CAC 40 was up 43 points or 0.79% and in London the FTSE 100 increased 74 points or 1.02%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 23 points or 0.70% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up 20 points or 0.22%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.12% to $1,209.90 a troy ounce while crude oil futures gained 0.68% to $70.80 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.14% to 93.60.