Investing.com - U.S. futures surged on Thursday after China confirmed it is working with Washington to schedule face-to-face talks in September.
Chinese Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said on Thursday the discussions should focus on preventing escalations and resolving trade issues calmly. Trade tensions escalated last week after both countries said they would impose more trade tariffs.
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 94 points or 1.3% by 6:41 AM ET (10:41 GMT), while Dow futures gained 264 points or 1% and S&P 500 futures were up 27 points or 1%.
Meanwhile U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Bloomberg news that the government is thinking about extending its debt profile, as the gap between the five-and-30-year Treasury yields widened. Mnuchin said the U.S. could lock in historically low rates in 50- and- 100-year bonds.
Technology stocks jumped in premarket trade on trade optimism, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gaining 1.3%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) up 1.7% and AMD rising 2.7%.
Banking stocks rallied, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) jumping 1.1%, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) up 0.6%, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) inching up 0.1%.
On the economic front, second-quarter gross domestic product comes out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) along with jobless claims. Pending home sales are released later, at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In commodities, crude oil rose 0.9% to $56.25 a barrel. Gold futures were down 0.1% to $1,547.25 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.1% to 98.203.