By Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta
(Reuters) -Wall street’s main indexes were set for a slightly higher open on Tuesday as investors awaited the outcome of ongoing trade talks between the United States and China aimed at cooling a tariff dispute that has bruised global markets this year.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said trade talks with China were going well as officials from the two sides met for a second day in London.
Investors are hoping for an improvement in ties after the relief around a preliminary deal struck last month gave way to fresh doubts when Washington accused Beijing of blocking exports critical to sectors such as aerospace, semiconductors and defense.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday the U.S. was likely to agree to lift export controls on some semiconductors in return for China speeding up the delivery of rare earths.
“I think these issues will be resolved, but I think it’s still early days … but the fact that they’re talking certainly is positive,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial.
“We’re not making progress yards at a time, but inches at a time.”
At 08:33 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 13 points, or 0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.15%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 37 points, or 0.17%.
U.S. equities rallied sharply in May, with the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq marking their best monthly gains since November 2023, helped by upbeat earnings reports and a softening of President Donald Trump’s harsh trade stance.
The S&P 500 remains a little over 2% below all-time highs touched in February, while the Nasdaq is about 3% below its record peaks reached in December.
Investors are awaiting U.S. consumer prices data on Wednesday for clues on the Federal Reserve’s rate trajectory.
While traders largely expect the Fed to keep interest rates unchanged next week, focus will be on any signs of pick-up in inflation as Trump’s tariffs risk raising price pressures.
Traders see at least two 25-basis point cuts by year-end, with a 63% chance of the first cut in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Most megacap and growth stocks inched higher in premarket trading. Tesla shares advanced 2.2%.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals rose about 1% after the biotech company said it will lay off around 20% of its workforce and focus on developing drugs for rare diseases and cancers to reduce cash burn during a prolonged industry downturn.
Insmed shares jumped 27.6% after the drugmaker said its blood pressure drug met the main goal in a mid-stage trial.
(Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
