US Stock Futures Rise on Trump's Positive Trade Talks

US stock futures started on a positive note on Wednesday after comments from US President Donald Trump raised optimism for a trade deal with China.

The S&P 500 futures were up 0.9 percent to $2,667.38, while Dow futures added 0.9 percent to $24,658.0 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 1.1 percent to $6,792.75.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday that negotiations with China were very productive. The two superpowers agreed to a 90-day truce earlier this month to discuss a trade deal.

Meanwhile, Trump stated in an interview with a news agency firm that talks were taking place with China by phone and he would not hike tariffs on Chinese imports until he was certain about an arrangement.

Trump also said he would intervene in a US Justice Department’s case against Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., if it would serve national security interests or help seal a trade agreement with China.

Angered by her arrest, China had threatened heavy consequences unless Canada released the Huawei CFO immediately. A Canadian court on Tuesday granted bail to Ms. Meng in a move that could help calm Chinese officials.

The news offered enough support after days of losses and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 1.6 percent to $485.13.

Japan’s Nikkei led Asian trading on Wednesday with a 2 percent increase, before ending the session with a 2.1 gain to ¥21,602.75.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.6 percent HK$26,186.71, while the

Shanghai Composite climbed 0.3 percent to CN¥2,602.15. The blue-chip CSI 300 index also increased 0.3 percent to CN¥3,170.61.

The FTSE 100, DAX, and CAC 40 then strengthened between 0.4 and 0.8 percent to drive Europe higher and e-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent.

Strategist Alvin Tan stated that they are seeing risk sentiment stabilizing a bit due to first, news of China considering lowering tariffs on US car, then the release of Ms. Meng, and then Trump’s plans to intervene in the case if it helped secure a trade deal.

Still, analysts were wary over expressing too much optimism on prospects of a trade agreement.

A Dutch bank said the Huawei case made it increasingly clear that the China-US trade war is about the exchange of technology, and there were also reports about the US planning to release evidence this week detailing Chinese hacking and economic espionage.

Even if this auto step is taken it just removes what was a retaliatory measure to begin with, according to economist David Plank. Whatever the case, market price action is somewhat of a chop-fest right now, as it swings around on each new headline, he stated.

Trump’s threat of shutting down the government to fund a wall he has planned to build on the southern border with Mexico has also disrupted markets.

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