Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a higher opening bell on Friday, as trade talks between the U.S. and China take center stage.
The S&P 500 futures was up six points or 0.22% to 2,718.75 as of 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT) while Dow futures increased 80 points or 0.32% to 24,784.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 17 points or 0.25% to 6,923.00.
Trade talks between the U.S. and China are in focus as officials meet in Washington to find a way to end their trade dispute. U.S. officials said Thursday China agreed to purchase up to $200 billion of American goods, but Chinese officials denied the agreement had been made.
The two countries have been in a tit-for-tat over trade tariffs in recent months.
Rising Treasury yields also remain in the back of investors’ minds, with the benchmark United States 10-Year yield dipping 0.04% to 3.108 after reaching a seven-year session high of 3.126. As bond yields rise, prices fall.
The increase in bond yields, combined with strengthening inflation, have increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy.
Toy company Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, rising 4.25% while Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose 1.48% and Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) (HE:NOKIA) Corp increased 0.81%.
Elsewhere Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) slipped 6.14% while Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) was down 5.49%.
On the central banking front, both Fed governor Lael Brainard and Dallas Fed chief Robert Kaplan will be making separate appearances at 9:15AM ET (13:15 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX fell two points or 0.02% while in France the CAC 40 increased four points or 0.08% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 13 points or 0.18%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained one point or 0.03% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 35 points or 0.35%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.28% to $1,285.80a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.10% to $71.58 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.13% to 93.50.