(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Futures up: Dow 1.08%, S&P 1.08%, Nasdaq 1.37%
* Interest-rate banks gain as U.S. Treasury yields rise
* Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) after FY forecast raise
(Adds comment, details, updates prices)
By Medha Singh
Aug 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set for sharp gains at
open on Monday as signs of an interest rate reform in China
bolstered hopes that major economies would act to stave off the
slowing economic effects of escalating global trade tensions.
The latest stimulus for the world's second-largest economy
follows news of potential German economic easing on Friday,
which helped major indexes end the session more than 1% higher.
Still, the indexes racked up their third straight weekly
loss on Friday and the S&P 500 .SPX is now about 5% away from
a record high hit in July. Traders will be split on direction
for the next few weeks as they balance trade risks and signs of
slowing growth with the potential for more action from the U.S.
Federal Reserve and others in September.
A bond market rally last weak sparked by fears of a slowdown
following the inversion of the yield curve eased further on
Monday with U.S. Treasury yields rising across the board,
helping futures higher.
"The yield curve is widening and people are starting to feel
like its time to get back into stocks, especially after they've
gotten cheaper in the past few weeks," said Robert Pavlik, chief
investment strategist and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone
Wealth LLC in New York.
Interest-rate sensitive lenders rose in premarket trading,
with Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) BAC.N , Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) C.N , JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM)
Chase & Co JPM.N , Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) GS.N , Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) & Co
WFC.N and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) MS.N all up between 1.4% and 2.1%.
The focus this week will be on Wednesday's release of
minutes from the Fed's July policy meeting, when the central
bank cut rates for the first time in more than a decade, and
Chair Jerome Powell's speech at a central banks meeting in
Jackson Hole on Friday.
"The Street is going to be hopeful that the Fed will take
away the 'mid-cycle' comment on rate cuts, which we all know is
going to be coming," Pavlik said.
Chipmakers, which depend on China for a large portion of
their revenue, also gained. Intel Corp INTC.O , Advanced Micro
Devices Inc AMD.O , Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O , Micron Technology
Inc MU.O , Nvidia Corp NVDA.O were all up between 1.4% and
3.2%.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday the U.S.
government will extend a reprieve given to Huawei Technologies
HWT.UL that permits the Chinese firm to buy supplies from U.S.
companies so that it can service existing customers, even as
nearly 50 of its units were being added to a U.S. economic
blacklist. At 8:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 281 points, or
1.08%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 31.25 points, or 1.08%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 104.25 points, or 1.37%.
The so-called FAANG group - Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O , Apple AAPL.O , Netflix Inc NFLX.O and
Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O - were up between 1.2% and
2.1%, with the iPhone maker leading the gains.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he had spoken
with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook about the impact of U.S.
tariffs. Estee Lauder Cos Inc EL.N jumped 8.4% as it forecast
full-year revenue and profit above estimates, bolstered by
booming demand for its premium skincare products and strength in
its Asia-Pacific business.