Wall Street futures higher after U.S.-China trade deal assurance

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose for a fourth straight session on Tuesday as U.S.-China officials reaffirmed their commitment to a Phase-1 trade deal, adding to market optimism from signs of progress in developing treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.

The pledge was made in a telephone call, the first formal dialogue since early May between the two sides, and came amid growing concerns that the deal could be on shaky ground because of worsening relations.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq logged new closing highs on Monday. The benchmark index surpassed its pre-pandemic high last week even as recent economic data pointed to a wobbly recovery from the virus-led downturn.

Later in the day, a survey from the Conference Board is expected to show U.S. consumer confidence improved slightly in August after falling more than expected in July amid a flare up in coronavirus cases.

Investors also await Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s address on Thursday for hints on the central bank’s next steps to support an economic recovery.

Among stocks, Salesforce.com Inc , Amgen Inc and Honeywell International Inc climbed between 3.6% and 4% premarket on news they would join the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average index <.djia> on Aug. 31.

The three companies will replace Exxon Mobil Corp , Pfizer Inc and Raytheon Technologies Corp , which were down between 1.5% and 2.4%.

At 5:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 159 points, or 0.56%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.75 points, or 0.37% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 25 points, or 0.21%.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc , Folgers coffee maker JM Smucker Co , medical device maker Medtronic Plc are due to report quarterly results before the opening bell.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)