S&P 500, Dow Futures Surge As China Trade Deal Hopes Offset Big Tech Disappointment — Analyst Tells Why Market May Have Bottomed

U.S. stock futures rose sharply in early Asian trading hours on Friday, signaling that the broader S&P 500 Index could extend its winning streak to nine sessions. 

Investor optimism climbed after China said it was evaluating whether it could start trade talks with the United States, following American messages to China through proper channels.

These diplomatic moves outweighed the negativity stemming from “Big Tech” companies Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN), which warned that tariffs would hurt their near-term performance. 

As of 12:30 a.m. ET on Friday, the Russell 2000 futures jumped 1.64%, the Dow futures rallied 0.88%, and the S&P 500 futures gained 0.80%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose a more modest 0.53%.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield gained further ground in the Asian session after rebounding above 4.20% on Thursday on the back of weak manufacturing data.

Crude oil and gold futures firmed, while in the currency market, the safe-haven dollar, yen, and Swiss franc retreated.

Asian markets are mostly higher, although China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down modestly.

As traders look ahead to Friday’s session, the spotlight will likely be on the April non-farm payrolls report. Economists, on average, expect 133,000 job gains for the month, notably slower than the 228,00 pace for March. 

The jobless rate is expected to stay at 4.2%, while the year-over-year growth of average hourly wages — an inflation measure — is expected to tick up to 3.9% from 3.8%.

The earnings calendar for the day includes oil giants Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM), fuboTV (FUBO), insurer Cigna (GI), DuPont (DD), CBOE Global Management (CBOE), and Cinemark (CNK).

Carson Chief Investment Strategist Ryan Detrick highlighted the eight-session winning streak for the S&P 500 Index and the more than 6% gain during the run. The strategist noted that three of the past four times this has occurred, the index was up more than 20% a year later.

Detrick said that going out into next year, the returns were better across the board.

“More clues the lows are indeed in, and this isn’t a bear market rally,” he added.

Thursday, U.S. stocks rose solidly, with IT and communications services stocks leading the charge after Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) allayed tariff concerns. 

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained for the eighth straight day, trimming the year’s losses further. 

The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF  jumped 1.31% on Thursday before closing at $481.68. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) exchange-traded fund (ETF) advanced 0.71% to $558.47, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) gained 0.27% to $407.42.

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) ended up 0.62% to $196.07.

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