U.S. stock index futures ticked to fresh record highs on Friday as investors stayed optimistic that Washington and Beijing would sign a long-awaited trade treaty early in the new year.
Wall Street again hit all-time highs on Thursday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the initial trade deal had been penned down and would be signed in early January, dispelling fears of another escalation in the tariff dispute.
However, injecting a note of caution, Beijing later dodged questions about specific details of the agreement, giving the market little reason to go much higher than current levels ahead of the Christmas holidays.
The S&P 500 is up nearly 28% this year, on expectations of improving trade relations between the world's top two economies, a dovish Federal Reserve and upbeat economic indicators. The benchmark index has gained 1.2% so far this week, hitting a sixth straight intraday record high on Thursday.
At 7:01 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 26 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.25 point, or 0.01% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 5.5 points, or 0.06%.
Source : Reuters