Stock-index futures edged higher Thursday following news reports that U.S. and Chinese negotiators were beginning to outline a deal to end a long-running trade spat.
How are the major benchmarks performing?
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMH9, +0.11% rose 27 points, or 0.1%, to 25,991, while S&P 500 futures ESH9, +0.08% gained 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,789. Nasdaq-100 NQH9, +0.20% rose 15 points, or 0.2%, to 7,088.25.
Wall Street ended Wednesday with gains after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s January meeting showed policy makers divided over what would justify future rate increases. The Dow DJIA, +0.24% ended 63.12 points higher at 25,954.44, up 0.2%. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.18% advanced 4.94 points, or 0.2%, to 2,784.70. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.03% eked out a rise of 2.3 points, or less than 0.1%, to end at 7,489.07, extending its winning streak to eight days.
What’s driving the market?
U.S. and Chinese negotiators have started to outline a trade deal, Reuters reported Wednedsay night, citing sources familiar with the talks. The report said agreements in principle are being drawn up in six key areas: forced technology transfers and cyber theft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade.
Negotiators have continued talks in Washington this week, following a round of discussions last week in Beijing. President Donald Trump earlier this week said that a March 1 deadline isn’t a “magical” date, which investors took as a sign that tariffs on imports of Chinese goods may not automatically rise at that time, if progress continues toward a deal.
What stocks are worth watching?
Shares of Dow component Nike Inc. NKE, +0.32% were expected to be in focus after Duke University forward Zion Williamson was lost to a knee injury seconds into a game against North Carolina, when his foot slid on the floor and his Nike-made shoe came apart. Shares of Nike were down 1.6% in premarket action.
Read: Duke’s Zion Williamson blows out his shoe, injures knee, and Nike gasps in horror
What are the analysts saying?
“Futures are flat as more reports of an impending U.S.-China trade deal [have] offset disappointing economic data,” wrote Tom Essaye, president of the Sevens Report, in a Thursday note to clients, referring to the Markit PMI surveys out of Europe and Japan that show the manufacturing sectors in both economies in contraction.
Though multiple media outlets have reported that a framework for a deal is coming into place, he warned, “we don’t know if tariffs will be reduced.”
