Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher open on Monday as concerns over trade between the U.S. and China appeared to abate, boosting sentiment.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 63 points, or 0.25%, by 6:48AM ET (10:48GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 4 points, or 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 16 points, or 0.23%
Coming off the strong rally of more than 2% last week when stocks saw their best weekly gain since March, investors looked set to continue the bullish momentum on Monday.
The fact that U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he planned to help Chinese telecom ZTE (HK:0763) “get back to business” eased tensions ahead of a second round of trade talks that begin on Tuesday, even though Beijing has indicated that it does not plan to change its current stance in the trade dispute.
With no major economic reports scheduled for release on Monday, investors will watch for clues from Federal Reserve policy makers on the pace of future rate hikes this year.
Speaking earlier on Monday, Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester reiterated her support for “the continued gradual removal of policy accommodation”.
While Mester said that she does not expect inflation to pick up sharply, she warned that the Fed may need to raise interest rates above 3% if the U.S. economy grew faster than expected.
Markets have fully priced in a rate hike at the Fed’s next two-day meeting ending on June 13, with another increase to come at the September policy decision. However, market participants remain on the fence over whether an additional rate hike will arrive in December.
St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard is slated to speak about cryptocurrencies at the CoinDesk Consensus 2018 conference in New York at 9:40AMET (13:40GMT).
The dollar continued to move lower against a basket of the other major currencies on Monday, putting it on track for its fourth straight session of declines.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.25% at 92.21 by 6:49AM ET (10:49GMT), as investors waited for retail sales to be released on Tuesday.
With the first quarter earnings season coming to an end (only 10 S&P firms will report this week), retailers will pick up the reporting baton with Home Depot (NYSE:HD) starting things off on Tuesday. Results from Macy's (NYSE:M) are on the agenda for Wednesday; while Walmart (NYSE:WMT), the world’s largest retailer, is due to report earnings on Thursday.
Meanwhile, oil prices were under pressure, as a rise in U.S. drilling for new production dampened sentiment.
U.S. drillers added 10 oil rigs last week, bringing the total count to 844, the highest number since March 2015. That was the sixth consecutive weekly increase in the rig count, underscoring worries about rising U.S. output.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.17% to $70.58 by 6:50AM ET (10:50GMT), while Brent oil was unchanged at $77.12.
Elsewhere, European stock markets were slightly lower around midday trade, as investors focused on Italian politics, trade relations between the U.S. and China and the drop in oil prices.
Earlier, Asian shares closed higher as the apparent thawing in relations between China and the U.S. boosted sentiment.