US STOCKS-Futures rise as partial trade deal, tariff delay hopes grow

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* Futures up: Dow 0.94%, S&P 500 0.97%, Nasdaq 1.13%

By Shreyashi Sanyal
Oct 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose strongly on
Friday, as hopes grew for a partial trade deal and a delay in
scheduled U.S. tariff increases, as top negotiators from the
United States and China geared up to meet for a second day of
talks.
Early market action showed Wall Street's three main indexes
were headed for their third straight day of gains, after ending
the previous session on optimism that the two sides could cool
off their row before more U.S. tariffs kick in next week.
President Donald Trump said trade talks between the U.S. and
Chinese officials on Thursday went well, and is set to meet
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He later in the day. Still, the S&P 500 .SPX and Dow Jones Industrial Average
.DJI indexes were set for their fourth straight weekly fall,
with risk appetite recently taking a hit from weak economic data
and headlines about the U.S.-China trade war.
Chipmakers, which are heavily exposed to China, rose
steadily in premarket trading. Intel Corp INTC.O , Nvidia Corp
NVDA.O and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O all rose about
1.5%, while Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 1.3%.
Wedbush hiked its price target for shares of the iPhone
maker, as the brokerage remained bullish on the official launch
of the company's Apple TV+ video streaming service.
Other gainers included oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N
and Chevron Corp CVX.N , which rose 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively
as a report of an attack on an Iranian oil tanker lifted oil
prices. O/R
At 7:16 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 248 points, or
0.94%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 28.5 points, or 0.97% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 88 points, or 1.13%.
Focus will shift to earnings next week as market
participants brace for the impact of the trade war on Corporate
America. Analysts are expecting a 3.1% drop in earnings for the
third quarter from a year ago, based on IBES data from
Refinitiv, and that could mark the first decline since 2016.
Investors are also betting on a third interest rate cut by
the Federal Reserve by the end of the month, to battle an
economic downturn in the world's largest economy.