Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher open on Thursday, as investors reacted positively to developments in trade talks between China and the U.S. and positive earnings reports from blue-chip companies, while keeping an eye on blue-chip earnings and waiting for a slew of data to be released before the open.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 200 points, or 0.79%, by 7:10 AM ET (11:10 GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 15 points, or 0.54%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 54 points, or 0.73%.
After the S&P 500 posted its biggest percentage drop since late June on Thursday, U.S. equities looked set for a rebound as China said it will hold a fresh round of trade talks with the U.S. in Washington later this month, offering a glimmer of hope for progress in resolving a conflict that has set world markets on edge.
A Chinese delegation led by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen will meet with U.S. representatives led by Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs David Malpass, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website.
The upcoming meeting, which is lower-level compared with four previous rounds of talks, comes at the invitation of the U.S., according to the statement.
The world's two largest economies have implemented several rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s goods since the start of the year and have threatened further tariffs on exports worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
On the company front, investors will concentrate on the last major wave of earnings. Through Wednesday’s close, 462 of the S&P 500 companies had reported earnings. 81% beat profit estimates with growth of 26.46%, while 75% topped consensus on sales with growth of 10.74%, according to The Earnings Scout.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) soared nearly 7% in pre-market trade on Thursday after the Dow component’s quarterly results beat on both the top and bottom line and the company forecast better-than-expected numbers for its fiscal first quarter.
Also among blue-chips, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) saw shares jump around 7% in pre-market trade after quarterly earnings topped consensus and the retail giant lifted its full-year earnings guidance.
Outside the Dow, other companies reporting results ahead of the open include JC Penney (NYSE:JCP), and Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSG).
After the close, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), and Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) are on deck.
On the economic front, traders will focus on weekly initial jobless claims as well as data on manufacturing activity from the Philly Fed and a report on housing starts and building permits for the month of the July, all due for release at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT).
While waiting for the data, the dollar backed off from 13-month highs against major rivals as the developments between the U.S. and China eased risk aversion. At 7:11 AM ET (11:11 GMT), the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% 96.50.
Meanwhile, commodities underwent a rebound on Thursday, celebrating renewed negotiation plans between Washington and Beijing after a sharp decline in the prior session.
At 7:12 AM ET (11:12 GMT), copper futures jumped 1.91% to $2.609 a pound, the biggest increase in more than three weeks. The red metal slumped to a 14-month low of $2.552 a day earlier.
Gold was also higher at $1,186.70 an ounce, having dropped to an overnight low of $1,167.10, a level not seen since January 2017.
Oil prices were showing mixed trade, however, with U.S. crude near the unchanged mark, as worries over a slowdown in global demand capped gains.
Elsewhere, European equities were trading higher as appetite for riskier assets improved on hopes of a trade war thaw. Italy's FTSE MIB was the major exception as shares in motorway operator Atlantia (MI:ATL) plunged 17% following the deadly collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa earlier this week.
Earlier, Asian shares closed mostly lower, but pared some of the steeper losses seen earlier amid easing fears of a trade war. The Shanghai Composite Index closed down around 0.7%, having earlier fallen by as much as 1.9%.