Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a mixed opening bell on Thursday as Chinese companies began buying American soybeans, boosting optimism that the two countries will reach a trade deal.
The S&P 500 futures rose 2 points or 0.08% to 2,654.5 as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures inched down 5 points, or 0.02%, to 24,561. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 15 points, or 0.23%, to 6,784.5.
The U.S. and China struck a trade truce earlier this month and have been in talks ever since, increasing hopes that the trade war between the two will soon be over.
Investor sentiment was bolstered by news that China made its first major purchase of soybeans in 6 months on Wednesday. Beijing had imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. soy imports over the summer.
Markets have been rocky over the last few weeks over skepticism that little progress will be made on trade, which was increased by the arrest in Canada of a top executive from Huawei on an extradition request from the U.S.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, jumping 9%, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 1.2% and Carnival (NYSE:CCL) was up 1%. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) rose 1%, while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inched up 0.3%.
Elsewhere, Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) fell 0.6%, while eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) was down 0.1%.
In economic news, jobless claims numbers come out at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT), along with import prices for November.
In other commodities, gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,246.25 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.27% to $51.01 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched down 0.04% to 96.97.
-Reuters contributed to this report.