NEW YORK, Aug 8 — Wall Street was set to open higher today as better-than-expected trade data from China and a steadying of its currency offered some comfort to investors rattled by an escalation in trade tensions and signals pointing to a recession.
The yuan regained some ground as China’s central bank set its official midpoint firmer than market expectations, signaling an intent to stabilise a decline in the currency. Exports from the world’s second-largest economy posted a surprise rise, while imports fell less than forecast.
“It’s (data) very reassuring for investors because that shows the economics of the world aren’t degrading rapidly,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.
Markets have been roiled this week after a slide in yuan was perceived as China’s retaliation to President Donald Trump’s latest threat of imposing a fresh round of tariffs on Chinese imports.
Signals from the bond market were ominous as well, with a closely watched US recession indicator reaching its highest level since March 2007 on Tuesday.
While the benchmark index has enjoyed a slight relief in the past two days, it still stands about 5 per cent away from its record closing high hit last month.
At 8:40 am ET, Dow e-minis were up 80 points, or 0.31 per cent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.36 per cent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 39.25 points, or 0.52 per cent.
Shares of Symantec Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc bolstered futures for Nasdaq 100. Symantec jumped 11 per cent after sources said chipmaker Broadcom Inc was in advanced talks to buy the cybersecurity company’s enterprise business.
AMD gained 6 per cent after the chipmaker released the second generation of its processor chip for data centres and said that it had landed Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter Inc as customers.
Lyft Inc advanced 7.7 per cent after the ride hailing service raised its outlook for the year and forecast a faster path to profitability. Rival Uber Technologies Inc, due to report quarterly results after the bell, rose 4.8 per cent.
Shares of Walt Disney Co rose 1.1 per cent after Credit Suisse upgraded its shares to “outperform” on positive investor sentiment as its video streaming service Disney+ closes in on its US launch.
Shares of CenturyLink Inc fell 3.5 per cent after the telecommunications services provider missed second-quarter revenue estimates. — Reuters
