Dow futures rose over 100 points in premarket trading on Thursday, lifted by gains for auto makers such as Ford Motor Co., amid hopes that a solution could be at hand to ease tensions between the U.S. and at least one trading partner.
What are markets doing?Dow Jose Industrial Average futures YMU8, +0.53% put on 131 points, or 0.6%, to 24,293, while S&P 500 futures ESU8, +0.55% moved up 15.20 points, or 0.6%, to 2,728.50. Nasdaq-100 futures NQU8, +0.62% added 41.75 points, or 0.6%, to 7,066.50.
Markets were closed Wednesday in observance of the Independence Day holiday. On Tuesday, the Dow DJIA, -0.54% closed down 132.36 points, or 0.5%, to 24,174.82, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.49% ended 0.5% lower, led by financials and tech stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.86% dropped 0.9%.
What is driving the market?Global trade tensions may have taken a positive turn on Thursday, with auto makers climbing after a U.S. official reportedly offered a “zero solution” to car tariffs. Such a deal would see the U.S. stop its threats to impose such duties in exchange for the European Union eliminating its levies.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV FCAU, -1.00% jumped 4% and Ford Motor Co. F, -0.99% rose 1% in premarket, after Daimler AG DAI, +3.05% and BMW AG BMW, +4.37% jumped over 4%.
A day earlier, reports said the EU may try to broker talks between big auto producing countries to prevent tariffs from being hiked in an all-out trade war.
Read: How will investors know if there is a full-blown trade war? Here’s what Wall Street says
But if there was hope on the European front, trade tensions remained elsewhere. On Friday, the U.S. plans to impose $34 billion worth of duties on Chinese products, and Beijing is expected to implement its own retaliatory tariffs the same day — though not before the U.S. puts theirs into effect. There is a 12-hour time difference between Beijing and Washington.
China officials also cautioned that U.S. tariffs would backfire as many of the foreign companies the Trump administration is targeting are foreign, including American-owned enterprises.
Tech stocks in the U.S. tumbled Tuesday after a U.S. move to block China Mobile CHL, -0.70% 0941, +0.73% from its market was followed by the Chinese temporarily halting Micron Technology Inc.’s MU, -5.51% memory-chip sales in that country.
Read: Stocks may still be underestimating the risk of a blowup in trade tensions
What’s on the economic calendar?A busy day for data kicks off with ADP employment for June at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Those two pieces of data come a day ahead of the closely watched nonfarm payrolls data for June.
Read: Just because the economy is booming doesn’t mean that all is well
Also on the calendar, the final Markit services purchasing managers’ index for June is expected at 9:45 a.m. Eastern, while the Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index for the same month is due at 10 a.m. Eastern.
An extended summary of the Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting will be due at 2 p.m. Eastern. Investors are hoping to get a better idea of what the Fed’s thoughts are on current disputes over trade, including whether any alarm on their part could put rate increases on hold until the trade situation calms down.
Read: Fed minutes preview — Central bank likely ignoring calls to slow interest-rate hikes
Which stocks are in focus?Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA, -0.61% said following regulatory approvals, it has completed a previously announced agreement to take a 40% minority stake in Sinopharm Holding GuoDa Drugstores Co., Ltd. leading retail pharmacy chain in China.
Read: One of 2018’s most successful stock plays may be about to turn
U.S.-listed shares of Praxair Inc. PX, -0.69% could be active after the industrial gases company said it would sell the bulk of its European gases business to Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. 4091, -0.99%
U.S.-listed shares of Glencore PLC GLEN, +3.05% GLEN, +3.05% may follow gains in London after the Anglo-Swiss commodity trading and mining group announced a plan to buy back up to $1 billion in shares.
Read: Carl Icahn unlikely to lobby Dell to sweeten VMware deal
What are other markets doing?Asian stock markets closed mostly lower, with the tech-heavy China Shenzhen ChiNext Composite 399106, -2.20% tumbling 2.2%. Equities in Europe traded higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.70% up 0.6%.
The ICE Dollar Index DXY, -0.15% declined 0.3% to 94.415, while gold prices GCQ8, -0.08% rose modestly to $1,254.70 an ounce. Crude oil CLQ8, +0.43% prices hovered at $74 a barrel.
