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* U.S., China to hold high-level trade talks in October
* Apple, chipmakers rise in premarket trading
* U.S. private sector adds 195,000 jobs in August -ADP
* Futures up: Dow 1.00%, S&P 0.93%, Nasdaq 1.22%
(Updates market action, adds comments)
By Uday Sampath Kumar
Sept 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open higher for a
second straight session on Thursday as Washington and Beijing
agreed to hold high-level talks next month, raising hopes of a
de-escalation in trade tensions that has battered global
economic growth.
China's Commerce Ministry said its trade team will lay the
groundwork with their U.S. counterparts in mid-September for the
October talks. Shares of tariff-sensitive chipmakers rose in premarket
trading, with Intel Corp INTC.O , Advanced Micro Devices Inc
AMD.O and Nvidia Corp NVDA.O gaining between 1.9% and 2.6%.
Industrial bellwethers Boeing (NYSE:BA) Co BA.N and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT)
CAT.N rose about 1% each.
Apple Inc AAPL.O led the FAANG group of stocks higher,
gaining 1.2%, while Facebook Inc FB.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O ,
Netflix Inc NFLX.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O rose between
0.5% and 1%.
"The resumption of trade talks is building enthusiasm that
maybe some sort of deal, like suspension of tariffs for a while,
might be in the works," said Peter Cardillo, chief market
economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
The trade dispute has dented global economic activity and
roiled financial markets, with the benchmark S&P 500 index
.SPX logging its worst August since 2015.
Investors are now pinning hopes on central banks to step in
and ease monetary policy to help boost growth.
Market participants are currently expecting a quarter
percentage point cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve at
its mid-September meeting.
Following a contraction in U.S. factory activity in August,
investors will turn their attention to any sign of a similar
slowdown in the services sector.
Data from the Institute for Supply Management's
non-manufacturing activity index for August, due out at 10 a.m.
ET, is expected to show a reading of 54.0, following July's
53.7.
Even if non-manufacturing data comes in below expectations,
it will not overshadow positive trade news, Cardillo said.
Investors will also keep a close watch on the crucial
nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday, with analysts cautioning
that any weakness could suggest a slowing U.S. economy.
The ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) national employment data, considered a precursor to
the Labor Department's more comprehensive jobs report, showed
the private sector added 195,000 jobs in August, above
economists' expectations of an increase of 149,000 jobs.
At 8:43 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 263 points, or
1%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 27.25 points, or 0.93% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 94.25 points, or 1.22%.
In deal news, insurer Prudential Financial Inc (NYSE:PRU) PRU.N
agreed to acquire online insurance startup Assurance IQ Inc for
$2.35 billion. Shares of Prudential (LON:PRU) fell 1.4%.