Investing.com - Futures surged on Monday after news that American companies could be licensed to sell to Huawei and a strong jobs report last week helped lift sentiment.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg on Sunday that U.S.-based companies would be issued with licenses to sell to Chinese tech-giant Huawei “very shortly,” adding that the government had received some 260 requests from U.S. suppliers for exemptions from the existing restrictions on selling to the company.
Huawei had been blacklisted on national security grounds amid concerns from the White House over its connection to the Chinese government, a move that many linked to the broader trade war with China. The Chinese company has been unable to offer new phones a version of Google’s Android due to the ban.
Nasdaq 100 were up 48 points or 0.6% by 6:42 AM ET (10:42 GMT), while Dow futures gained 127 points or 0.5% and S&P 500 Futures rose 15 points or 0.5%.
Bank stocks were higher in premarket trade, with Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) gaining 1.5% and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) up 1.2%. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.6%, while Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) rose nearly 1%.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) tumbled 2.9% after its CEO, Steve Easterbrook was fired for a consensual relationship with an employee, against company policy. He will be replaced by Chris Kempczinski, president of McDonald’s USA.
On the earnings front,Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER), Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR), Ferrari (NYSE:RACE), Sprint (NYSE:S) and Under Armour (NYSE:UAA) are all expected to report. Under Armour slumped 18.6% on news that it is being investigated for its accounting practices.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,514.25 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 97.080. Crude oil futures jumped 0.9% to $56.73 a barrel.