Stock futures rise as U.S.-China trade tensions ease

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday on signs of easing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies after President Donald Trump pledged to help China’s ZTE Corp “get back into business, fast” following a crippling U.S. ban.

Trump’s comments come ahead of talks between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. officials to resolve trade differences, starting Tuesday.

The U.S. Commerce Department last month banned American companies from selling to the Chinese tech company (000063.SZ) for violating an agreement, hurting ZTE as well as shares of some of its U.S. suppliers.

Optical components maker Acacia Communications (ACIA.O) jumped 15.24 percent, while Finisar (FNSR.O) and Lumentum Holdings (LITE.O) rose about 5 percent each.

China has resumed its review of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc’s (QCOM.O) proposed $44 billion takeover of NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI.O), Bloomberg reported on Monday.

NXP Semiconductor (NXPI.O) surged 10.8 percent and Qualcomm 3.1 percent.

At 7:14 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 69 points, or 0.28 percent. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 4.75 points, or 0.17 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 16.5 points, or 0.24 percent.

Wall Street’s main indexes posted solid gains last week, helped by a surge in oil prices, easing inflation fears and Apple’s rally that took it close to $1 trillion in market capitalization.

The S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI crossed their 100-day moving averages, a key level of technical support, for the first time in nearly a month.

Facebook shares (FB.O) edged up 0.4 percent. The company said it suspended around 200 apps after investigating for any data misuse, in response to a scandal around political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Xerox (XRX.N) fell 3.9 percent after the U.S. photocopier giant scrapped a planned $6.1 billion deal with Fujifilm Holdings (4901.T).

Perrigo (PRGO.N) slid 4.5 percent after the drugmaker said it expected to get a complete response letter from U.S. regulators on a generic version of ProAir inhalation aerosol.