Wall Street points to strong gains; Dow futures up 300 points

© Reuters. Dow futures up 300 points as Wall Street points to strong gains

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to strong gains at the open on Tuesday, as traders returned to their desks from the Labor Day weekend in an upbeat mood.

During early morning hours in New York, the blue-chip Dow futures surged 286 points, or 1.78%, the S&P 500 futures jumped 36 points, or 1.86%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 78 points, or 1.85%.

U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Market sentiment was boosted amid a global stock market rally, despite grim trade data from China that caused further volatility in Asian markets.

China's trade surplus widened to $60.2 billion last month from $43.0 billion in July, compared to estimates for a surplus of $48.2 billion.

Exports slumped 5.5% from a year earlier, better than forecasts for a decline of 6.0%, while imports plunged 13.8%, far worse than expectations for a drop of 8.2%.

The weak data raised expectations of more policy easing from China's central bank in the coming months.

The Shanghai Composite rallied more than 4.5% in the last hour of trade to erase the session's losses and end up 3%.

The upbeat sentiment carried over to European markets, where Germany's DAX, France’s CAC 40 and London's FTSE 100 were all up almost 2%.

There are no major U.S. economic data releases on Tuesday amid ongoing uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates when it meets on September 16-17.

Friday's U.S. jobs report failed to provide much clarity on when the U.S. central bank will decide to raise short term interest rates. The timing of a Fed rate hike has been a constant source of debate in the markets in recent months.