By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch , Sunny Oh

A reading of U.S. consumer sentiment due at 10 a.m. ET and Fed's Rosengren to talk at 1:15 p.m.

U.S. stock benchmarks Friday morning were on pace to gain for a third session in a row -- which would represent the longest string of gains in October -- as investors drew optimism from President Donald Trump's offer to meet China's top trade negotiator later in the day, lifting hopes for progress for some form of resolution in the longstanding tariff conflict.

How did the benchmarks perform?

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 256 points, or 1%, to 26,740, those for the S&P 500 index advanced 28.4 points, or 1%, to reach 2,968.5, while Nasdaq-100 futures added 82 points, or 1.1%, to 7,842.50.

On Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-index-futures-drift-lower-as-beijing-washington-tariff-talks-take-focus-2019-10-10), the Dow rose 150.66 points, or 0.6%, to 26,496.67. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.6%, or 18.73 points, to 2,938.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 47.04 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 7,950.78.

For the week, however, the Dow is poised to shed 0.3%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on pace to post 0.5% and 0.4% declines, respectively, as of Thursday's close.

What drove the stock market?

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-says-hell-meet-with-chinese-vice-premier-on-friday-2019-10-10)President Donald Trump said the first day of talks went "really well" (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-china-trade-talks-are-going-very-well-trump-says-2019-10-10) and announced that he would be meet China's Vice Premier Liu He later Friday. The Wall Street Journal reported (https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-to-meet-with-china-s-top-trade-negotiator-on-friday-11570716458?mod=article_inline)that terms for a possible tentative deal could include China offering more agriculture purchases, a joint pact to deter Beijing from devaluing its currency, and, on the U.S. side, suspending planned tariffs and relaxing export bans against blacklisted Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-says-hell-meet-with-chinese-vice-premier-on-friday-2019-10-10)

"This whole optimism around the first day of the talks may have revived hopes that the week will end with an interim trade deal between the world's two largest economies, something that could also take additional tariffs off the table," wrote Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at brokerage JFD Group, in a daily research note. "If today's headlines continue to come in favor of such an outcome, risk assets, like equities, are likely to continue gaining," he said.

Looking ahead, the University of Michigan U.S. consumer sentiment report is due at 10 a.m.

Investors also will watch for comments from Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren (https://www.bostonfed.org/news-and-events/press-releases/2019/statement-of-eric-s-rosengren.aspx) -- one of three dissenters in the Fed's last decision -- set to speak at the American Economic Challenges Symposium in Madison, Wis., at 1:15 p.m., while Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, is expected to moderate a panel in San Francisco at 3 p.m. Kaplan isn't a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

See also: Bank stocks surge as U.S.-China trade hopes lift Treasury yields (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-stocks-surge-as-us-china-trade-hopes-lift-treasury-yields-2019-10-11)

What stocks are moving?

Shares of Apple Inc.(AAPL) rallied in premarket trading as analysts at Wedbush raised its stock price target to $265 from $245.

The stock for Voxx International Corp.(VOXX) climbed after the technology manufacturer reported that its operating losses fell in the first half of the year.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY) surged in premarket trade after it named Target Corp.'s(TGT) head of merchandising as its new chief executive.

How did other assets trade?

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed to 1.711%, compared with 1.649% on Thursday.

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-edges-higher-ahead-of-trade-talks-2019-10-09)Gold futures held below the psychologically significant level at $1,500. December gold was most recently down 0.8% at $1,488.90 an ounce.

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery jumped 81 cents, or 1.5%, to $54.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after an oil tanker attack in the Middle East (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-jump-after-reports-of-iranian-tanker-blast-2019-10-11).

In Asia overnight Friday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 2.3% to 26,308.44, the China CSI 300 rose 1% to reach 3,911.73, and Japan's Nikkei 225gained 1.2% to 21,798.87. The Stoxx Europe 600, meanwhile, advanced 1.6% to 388.91. And the FTSE 100 gained 0.3% to 7,205.83, even as the pound jumped 1.8% against the dollar, amid renewed Brexit optimism (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-stocks-drift-before-trade-talks-as-gdp-edges-lower-in-august-2019-10-10).

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 11, 2019 08:42 ET (12:42 GMT)

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