Investing.com - U.S. futures rose on Thursday, boosted by comments from U.S. President Donald Trump that a trade deal with China was “getting closer.”
Trump told reporters that the two were having “good conversations” and a deal “could happen sooner than you think.” No further details were given, while at the same time the U.S. penalized Chinese shipping companies that handle Iranain oil.
Trump’s comments on Wednesday were in contrast to his criticism of Chinese policy on Tuesday, when he said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly that he would not accept a “bad deal.”
Nasdaq 100 futures gained 4 points or 0.1% by 6:41 AM ET (10:41 GMT), while Dow futures rose 42 points or 0.1% and S&P 500 futures were up 4 points or 0.1%.
Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) recovered 10% in premarket trade on news that McDonalds will trial its burgers in Ontario. That comes a day after it was hit by reports of Nestle launching its own faux meat.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was up 0.5%, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 1% and Square (NYSE:SQ) jumped 2.4%.
Elsewhere, Altria Group (NYSE:MO) dipped 1.1%, as tobacco stocks were set for another turbulent day after U.K.-based Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) cut its sales forecast citing the "challenging" environment facing vaping products.
On the economic front, the final reading for U.s. gross domestic product in the second quarter comes out at 8:30 AM ET, while separately the August trade balance and initial jobless claims will also be released. The Kansas City Fed’s regional business survey will follow at 11:00 AM ET.
In commodities, crude oil futures gained 0.4% to $56.72 a barrel. Gold futures were up 0.3% to $1,516.35 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 98.697.