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* Qualcomm gains on upbeat forecast
* Trade-sensitive chipmakers, industrials rise
* Ralph Lauren jumps on profit beat
* Roku plunges after wider loss
* Futures up: Dow 0.55%, S&P 500 0.37%, Nasdaq 0.44%
(Adds comment, updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 7 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to hit
record highs on Thursday, boosted by signs of progress in
U.S.-China trade relations and a fresh batch of largely upbeat
earnings reports.
The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX is eyeing its fifth
straight week of increases, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC
is set to log six weeks of gains.
China said on Thursday that it had agreed with the United
States to remove tariffs in phases, while the state-owned Xinhua
News Agency said Beijing was also considering removing
restrictions on poultry imports. "This is fuelling optimism that a trade deal will be
solidified at some point," said Andre Bakhos, managing director
at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
"It removes a veil of uncertainty and gives the market a
green light for a risk-on path."
Trade-sensitive industrials 3M Co MMM.N and Caterpillar
Inc CAT.N rose over 1% in premarket trading. Chipmakers with a
sizeable exposure to China, including Intel Corp INTC.O ,
Micron Technology MU.O and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O , were up
between 1% and 1.7%.
Also supporting tech stocks was a 5.6% gain in Qualcomm Inc
shares QCOM.O after the chipmaker forecast current-quarter
profit above analysts' estimates. Nearly three-quarters of the 383 S&P 500 companies that have
reported results so far have beaten profit expectations,
according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
At 8:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 152 points, or
0.55%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 11.5 points, or 0.37% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 36 points, or 0.44%.
Ralph Lauren Corp RL.N jumped 9.6% after it topped
second-quarter profit expectations, driven by tighter control on
expenses and strong demand for its Polo shirts and tweed jackets
in China and Europe. Expedia Group Inc EXPE.O dropped 14% as the online travel
booking company missed quarterly profit estimates. Roku Inc ROKU.O plunged 15% after posting a wider net loss
in the third quarter, as it spent more to attract subscribers to
its video streaming platform. Twitter Inc TWTR.N fell 1.6% after Evercore ISI downgraded
the stock to "underperform" from "in-line".