US STOCKS-Futures edge higher on U.S.-China trade optimism

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* Futures up: Dow 0.16%, S&P 0.13%, Nasdaq 0.02%

By Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh
Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on
Thursday as positive comments from China on U.S. trade talks put
a cap on this week's politically driven selling.
Shares in one of this year's market success stories, Beyond
Meat BYND.O , surged another 11% as it added McDonald's Corp
MCD.N to the list of clients for its plant-based patties.
The S&P 500 fell as much 1.1% on Tuesday on news that U.S.
Democrats were planning an impeachment inquiry of President
Donald Trump, but recovered on Wednesday after Trump hinted at a
sooner-than-expected trade deal with China. The benchmark index
closed about 1.4% shy of its record high hit in
late-July. Beijing said on Thursday it was in close communication with
the United States and was preparing to make progress with their
trade talks in October. "President Trump has a habit of changing his tune when it
comes to China, so some traders might remain skeptical of the
remarks," CMC Markets UK analyst David Madden said in a note to
clients.
"We have heard this sort of commentary before, and it hasn't
always worked out, but the mood is upbeat nonetheless."
Investors are also eyeing a final reading of U.S. economic
growth for the second quarter at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) that is
expected to remain unchanged from initial estimates. Data on
weekly jobless claims is also due at the same time.
Trade-sensitive chipmakers rose in premarket trading, with
Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O , Micron Technology Inc MU.O
and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O up between 0.1% and 0.5%. Micron is set
to report its quarterly results later in the day.
At 7:05 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 43 points, or
0.16%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 4 points, or 0.13% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 1.75 points, or 0.02%.
Facebook Inc FB.O slipped 1% as a person familiar with the
matter told Reuters that the U.S. Justice Department will open
an antitrust investigation of the social media company.

Leisure cruise operator Carnival Corp CCL.N dropped 2.4%
before the release of its quarterly results.