U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher start to the trading day Thursday as investors cheered progress on U.S.-China trade talks.
At 7:17 a.m. E.T., Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a gain of about 53 points at the open. Futures for Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 were also higher.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday that Washington and Beijing have “pretty much agreed on an enforcement mechanism” for when a deal is struck.
“We are hopeful we can do this quickly, but we are not going to set an arbitrary deadline,” Mnuchin added. “If we can complete this agreement, this will be the most significant changes to the economic relationship between the U.S. and China in really the last 40 years.”
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The Wall Street Journal also reported that China agreed to open its cloud-computing sector to foreign companies in an attempt to sweeten a deal with the U.S.
Investors also weighed news that talks between EU leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May culminated in a “flexible extension ” of the U.K.’s departure from the bloc until Oct. 31.
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said this development provides extra time for the “U.K. to find the best possible solution.”
Wednesday’s moves follow the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting.
The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its March monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. Last month, the U.S. central bank decided to maintain interest rates and hold off an any further increases this year.
The minutes revealed that Fed officials are leaving room for possible interest rate increases by the end of the year but currently do not expect to make any changes.
Source: cnbc.com | Original Link