Wall St. Set to Open Higher as Trade Optimism Builds

(Reuters) —
The New York Stock Exchange. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

Wall Street was set to open higher for the fifth straight session on Tuesday, a day after all three major U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on rising hopes of a trade truce between Washington and Beijing.

China is pushing President Donald Trump to remove more tariffs as part of the “phase one” deal, which may be signed this month, according to the latest reports.

Trade-sensitive chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp., rose between 0.5% and 1.3% in premarket trading. U.S.-listed Chinese stocks also looked set to extend their gains.

“The main focus is to get this phase-one trade deal, which could happen this month,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas. “I do think the market can hold its ground until we get some sort of a deal signed.”

Gathering optimism around the resolution of the trade war, along with a largely better-than-expected third-quarter earnings season and an upbeat October jobs report have spurred a Wall Street rally this month.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs for the second consecutive session on Monday, while the Dow Jones hit a record high for the first time since July.

Over three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far have beaten profit expectations, Refinitiv data showed.

“The lion’s share of the numbers have come in already and we have had enough reports to suggest that this was a solid earnings season,” Frederick said.

Investor attention now shifts to the ISM’s services data, with economists expecting a rebound in business sentiment from a three-year low. The report is due at 10 a.m. ET.

At 8:57 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 86 points, or 0.31%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.25 points, or 0.24% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 22.5 points, or 0.27%.

Among stocks, generic drug-maker Mylan NV rose 1.3% after beating estimates for third-quarter profit, benefiting from drug launches such as Wixela and Fulphila.

Adobe Inc. rose 5.4% as the Photoshop software maker raised its fourth-quarter digital media annualized recurring revenue target.

Shares of Xerox Holdings Corp. were up 6.2% after the photocopier maker said it would sell its 25% stake in Fuji Xerox, its joint venture with Fujifilm Holdings, for $2.3 billion.

Uber Technologies Inc. fell 6.9% after the ride-hailing service posted a bigger third-quarter loss as it tried to outspend competitors through discounts.

Burger chain Shake Shack Inc slumped 18% and was set for its worst day ever after missing third-quarter same-store sales estimates.

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