US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher after selloff

(Adds quote, details; updates prices)
* Trump says U.S. doing well in trade talks with China
* Dollar General gains after Q1 profit beat
* Citigroup gains after Goldman upgrades to 'buy'
* Futures up: Dow 0.24%, S&P 0.38%, Nasdaq 0.43%

By Amy Caren Daniel
May 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open slightly
higher on Thursday, taking a breather from a trade
tension-driven selloff that has knocked more than 5% off the
value of major stock indexes since the start of May.
U.S. stocks 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.
"People are trying to figure out how much of the bad news is
already priced in. The trade war looks like it might dampen
growth but not enough to throw us into a recession," said Scott
Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg,
Florida.
"There has been talk about the Fed possibly cutting rates
and that is a little bit positive for the stock market."
Despite a 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.
Offering a glimmer of hope, President Donald Trump said the
United States was doing well in trade talks with China and that
Beijing wanted to make a deal with Washington. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will meet in
late-June at the G20 summit in Japan. Apple Inc AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O Intel Corp
INTC.O and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O were among the gainers in
premarket trading.
The ramp up in trade tensions have hit technology .SPLRCT
and energy stocks .SPNY the hardest among the 11 major S&P
sectors so far this month.
The major 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 8:32 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 61 points, or
0.24%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 10.5 points, or 0.38% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 30.75 points, or 0.43%.
Citigroup Inc C.N rose 1.3% 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 1.3% after Guggenheim upgraded
the cable services provider's stock to "buy", saying the company
was well positioned in a rapidly changing landscape.
Discount retailer Dollar General Corp DG.N jumped 5.1%
after the company reported quarterly same-store sales and profit
above expectations.