US STOCKS-Rate cut bets buoy futures despite rise in trade tensions

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* Futures up: Dow 0.29%, S&P 0.31%, Nasdaq 0.40%

By Medha Singh
June 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to further
gains on Thursday, as hopes of an interest rate cut countered a
flare up in trade tensions after President Donald Trump
threatened fresh tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump said he could hit China with tariffs on "at least"
another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods but he thought both
China and Mexico wanted to make deals. While no face-to-face meetings have been held between the
United States and China since May 10, talks with Mexico are
expected to resume talks on Thursday after Trump said "not
enough" progress on ways to curb migration was made a day
earlier. After a surprise escalation in the trade spat in May that
roiled the markets, Wall Street's main indexes are on pace for
their first weekly gain in at least a month after top Federal
Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, hinted at a
rate cut as policymakers closely monitor the trade war fallout.
U.S. interest rates futures point to rising expectations
among traders that the central bank will reduce borrowing costs
at its July policy meeting. MMT/
At 6:43 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 75 points, or
0.29%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 8.75 points, or 0.31% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 29 points, or 0.4%.
Among stocks, Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O rose 2.7%
premarket after Morgan Stanley upgraded the chipmaker's stock to
"equal-weight" from "underweight", citing positive near-term
catalysts.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co GT.O climbed 1.6% after Longbow
Research raised its rating on the tire-maker's stock to
"neutral" from "underperform", saying impact of Mexico tariffs
will be modest on the company for now.
On the economic calendar, a Commerce Department report is
expected to show that U.S. trade deficit expanded to $50.7
billion in April, from $50 billion the month before.
Another report is likely to indicate that initial claims for
state unemployment benefits for last week remained flat at
215,000, compared with the prior week. Both sets of data are
expected at 8:30 a.m. ET.