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* Futures up: Dow 0.28%, S&P 500 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.27%
By Arjun Panchadar
Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday
as hopes of a trade deal between Washington and Beijing as well
as rising bets on a rate cut by the Federal Reserve when it
meets this week boosted investor sentiment.
The S&P 500 index .SPX came within striking distance of
its all-time high on Friday after the United States said it was
"close to finalizing" some parts of a trade agreement with
China.
Beijing confirmed on Saturday that "technical consultations"
on some parts of a trade agreement were basically completed.
The news comes as a relief to investors who have been
grappling with the fallout from the trade war and its impact on
the global economy.
Dismal domestic economic indicators since the beginning of
October have raised the odds for a third rate cut to 94% from
49% last month. The two-day Fed policy meeting starts on
Tuesday.
A largely better-than-expected earnings season has been a
bright spot, with over 78% of the 199 S&P 500 companies that
have reported so far surpassing profit expectations.
All eyes will now be on earnings from global heavyweights
this week, including Apple Inc AAPL.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O
and Merck & Co Inc MRK.N .
At 6:55 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 74 points, or
0.28%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 6.75 points, or 0.22% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 21.75 points, or 0.27%.
Among stocks, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O rose 3% premarket as
it won the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud computing contract,
beating Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O . Amazon shares slipped 1%.
Tiffany & Co TIF.N surged 28% after Louis Vuitton owner
LVMH LVMH.PA confirmed it has approached to buy the U.S.
luxury jeweler at a time when it grapples with the impact of
tariffs on its exports to China. Spotify Technology SA SPOT.N gained 6.1% after the music
streaming company beat quarterly revenue estimates as it added
more-than-expected paid subscribers for its premium service.