US STOCKS-Futures gain on U.S.-China trade optimism

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* Futures up: Dow 0.15%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.39%

By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Tuesday
as investors turned optimistic that Washington and Beijing would
agree on a deal to end a bruising trade war that is posing one
of the biggest risks to global economic growth.
The fallout from the tit-for-tat tariff dispute over the
past 16 months has already led to a slowdown in China and shown
up in some economic indicators in the United States.
But U.S. stock markets have climbed steadily to new record
highs this month, shrugging off negative headlines on the trade
front.
On Monday, a temporary reprieve in sanctions on China's
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd by the Trump administration helped
ease concerns, which were triggered by a report that China was
pessimistic about reaching a deal. Trade-sensitive chip stocks, including Qualcomm Inc
QCOM.O , Applied Materials Inc AMAT.O and Lam Research Corp
LRCX.O , gained about half a percent in premarket trading. Most
U.S.-listed Chinese stocks also rose.
A largely better-than-expected corporate earnings season has
also fuelled a Wall Street rally over the past few weeks, with
the benchmark S&P 500 setting new records almost every day.
Nearly three-quarters of the 461 S&P 500 companies to report
results so far have topped profit estimates, according to
Refinitiv data. Although those numbers reflect significantly
lowered expectations to a large extent.
On Tuesday, Home Depot Inc HD.N and Kohl's Corp KSS.N
bucked that trend and signalled a weak quarter for retailers.
Target Corp TGT.N and Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N are due to report
results later this week.
Home improvement retailer Home Depot fell 4.5% after cutting
its full-year sales forecast. Rival Lowe's shares also dipped
2%.
Kohl's dropped 10.2% as the department store operator
slashed its annual profit expectations, ahead of the
all-important holiday shopping season. Also on the agenda this week are minutes from the Federal
Reserve's latest policy meeting, where it cut interest rates for
the third time this year, and data on U.S. manufacturing
activity.
At 7:31 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 41 points, or
0.15%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 7 points, or 0.22% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 32.25 points, or 0.39%.
Among other stocks, Broadcom Inc AVGO.O rose 2.1% after
Morgan Stanley upgraded the chipmaker's stock to "overweight"
from "equal-weight". But shares of AT&T Inc T.N slipped 1.5% after
MoffettNathanson downgraded the U.S. wireless carrier's stock to
"sell" from "neutral".