Market Snapshot: U.S. stock futures rise on signs Trump administration could soften Huawei stance

After a week of worrying headlines on the trade front, stock futures indicated a bounce for Wall Street on reports the Trump administration could back off a harsher stance on Huawei Technologies Inc. as part of a bigger trade deal with China. Read More...

U.S. stock futures rose Friday on some encouraging news on the trade front, with reports President Donald Trump may ease up on restrictions against Huawei Technologies Inc. as part of a bigger trade deal with China.

How did the major benchmarks fare?

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YMM19, +0.45% rose 114 points, or 0.5%, to 25,580, while S&P 500 futures ESM19, +0.47% were up 13.10 points, or 0.5%, to 2,833. Nasdaq-100 futures NQM19, +0.52% added 40 points, or 0.6%, to 7,351. DJIA, -1.11%

On Thursday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.11% dropped 286.14 points, or 1.1%, to 25,490.47, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.19% fell 34.03 points, or 1.2%, to 2,822.24. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.58% sank 122.56 points, or 1.6%, to 7,628.28.

What’s driving the market?

Investors appeared to be taking a breather from a week of mostly unsettling headlines linked to trade tensions, as fallout from a U.S. ban on Chinese tech group Huawei Technologies Inc. reverberated across global markets. Thursday’s losses stemmed from a growing view that the U.S. and China were moving further apart on a trade deal.

Calming the situation somewhat, Trump said Thursday that the U.S. could ease up on its ban against Huawei as “some part” of a wider trade deal with the country, though he reiterated the Chinese company was “very dangerous” from a security standpoint.

At the same time, a separate report said the Commerce Department was considering tariffs on countries that undervalued their currencies to the disadvantage of U.S. companies. Currently no country in the world meets that specific criteria, but the U.S. has long viewed China as a manipulator of its yuan.

The economic calendar is quiet, with only durable goods and capital goods orders for April due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. U.S. markets will close Monday in honor of the Memorial Day holiday.

How are other markets trading?

Stock markets in Asia traded mixed, with the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.03% posting a 0.1% drop, while European stocks SXXP, -1.42% moved higher.

Among commodities, crude prices US:CLU8 were rebounding from the biggest one-day loss of the year. Gold GCM19, -0.22% is softer, while the U.S. dollar DXY, -0.09% is steady.