US STOCKS-Futures tick higher after prior session's selloff

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* Futures up: Dow 0.16%, S&P 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.26%

By Amy Caren Daniel
May 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on
Thursday, taking a breather from a trade tension-driven selloff
that has knocked more than 5% off the value of major stock
markets since the start of May.
Wall Street's main indexes fell more than 1% during the
session on Wednesday after Chinese state media implied Beijing
could restrict rare earth sales to the United States, triggering
fears of a drawn-out dispute that could weigh on global growth.
Despite a fractional tick up on Thursday, U.S. treasury
yields were still at 20-month lows as investors sought safety in
government bonds.
The yield curve between three-month bills and 10-year notes
also remained inverted and money markets were now pricing in
roughly two U.S. rate cuts by the start of next year.
"We oppose a trade war but are not afraid of a trade war,"
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Hanhui said on Thursday in
Beijing. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi
Jinping will meet in late-June at the G20 summit in Japan.
Big technology names were trading higher before the bell.
IPhone maker Apple Inc AAPL.O and Microsoft MSFT.O as well
as chipmakers Intel Corp INTC.O and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O were
trading about 0.5% higher.
The ramp up in trade tensions have hit technology .SPLRCT
and energy stocks .SPNY the hardest among the S&P sectors so
far this month.
The three major U.S. indexes have suffered their fourth
decline in five sessions. The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX is
down 5.5% from its April 30 closing high.
At 6:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 40 points, or
0.16%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 7.25 points, or 0.26% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 18.75 points, or 0.26%.
Among stocks, Citigroup Inc C.N rose 1.4% after Goldman
Sachs raised the bank's shares to "buy", as it expects the
lender to achieve a higher return on equity in 2020.
Comcast Corp CMCSA.O gained 1.9% after Guggenheim upgraded
the cable services provider's stock to "buy", saying the company
was well positioned in a rapidly changing landscape.
On the macro front, the Commerce Department releases data on
gross domestic product for the first quarter at 8:30 a.m. ET.
The country's economic growth is expected to have expanded at a
3.1% annualized rate in the quarter, compared with previous
expectations of 3.2%.
Another report is expected to show core personal consumption
expenditures (PCE) price index held steady at 1.3% during the
first quarter.