Stocks - U.S. Futures Jump on Trade Hope

Investing.com - U.S. futures jumped on Friday after positive comments from U.S. President Donald Trump on trade talks helped boost sentiment.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that talks between the two countries were going “really well,” which followed a tweet that he will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Lui He on Friday. Negotiations are scheduled to continue throughout the day. The news helped bolster markets after a few days of whiplash following conflicting reports on trade progress.

Nasdaq 100 futures gained 80 points or 1% by 6:54 AM ET (10:54 GMT), while Dow futures rose 234 points or 0.9% and S&P 500 futures were up 25 points or 0.9%.

Sentiment was also helped a strong performance in Europe, where shares rocketed on prospects of a deal that would secure a smooth Brexit.

Roku jumped 5.5% in premarket trade after RBC upgraded the streaming device company, which stands to benefit from the proliferation of streaming packages hitting the market to challenge Netflix's current supremacy.

Oil companies were higher, as crude oil surged following reports of an Iranian oil tanker set alight on early Friday. Crude oil futures jumped 1.7% to $54.47 a barrel. Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) gained 7.8%, while Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) rose 1.8% and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) was up 1.5%.

On the data front, import prices come out at 8:30 AM ET, with the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment figures for October later in the session.

In commodities, gold futures inched down 0.1% to $1,499.75 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.2% to 98.175.

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