U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Friday, as investors navigated conflicting comments on the U.S.-China trade front despite signs of a possible softening in Beijing’s stance.
On a brighter note, meanwhile, shares of Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) leapt 3.6% in premarket trade after the company reported upbeat first-quarter results, easing investor worries about returns on hefty artificial intelligence-focused investment.
The overall mood, however, was jittery. Futures reversed early gains after U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview he would consider it a "total victory" if the country had tariffs as high as 50% on foreign imports a year from now.
Trump also said his administration is talking with China to strike a tariff deal and that Chinese President Xi Jinping has called him. Beijing, however, continues to dispute that negotiations are taking place.
The conflicting headlines offset some optimism after China granted some U.S. imports exemptions from its hefty 125% tariffs, according to businesses notified.
"It’s more of the market just kind of waiting and seeing how things actually progress," said Clayton Allison, portfolio manager at Prime Capital Financial.
"Everybody’s trying to kind of figure out what’s true, what’s kind of political theater and (it) really just feels more and more like headline volatility more than anything."
At 8:25 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 162 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 11.5 points, or 0.21% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 54.5 points, or 0.28%.
Meanwhile, Alphabet’s first-quarter results also lifted social media companies after strong Google ad revenue, with Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) up 2.6% and Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) gaining 2%.
Alphabet was "shaking off the whole narrative that they’re getting impacted by the ongoing trade war," Allison said.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), meanwhile, dropped 7.2% following the chipmaker’s dour forecast, while T-Mobile fell 5.4% after adding fewer wireless subscribers than expected in the first quarter.
Indexes rose for the third consecutive session on Thursday - the best winning streak for the S&P 500 since Trump’s April 2 "Liberation Day" tariff announcement - and were set for strong weekly gains.
The S&P 500 is so far up 3.8% for the week, while the Nasdaq Composite and the Dow are on track to rise 5.4% and 2.4%, respectively.
Those gains have been driven by signs of a possible detente in the U.S.-China trade war and Trump’s backtracking on threats to fire the head of the Federal Reserve, as well as some upbeat corporate results.
However, given the ever-changing nature of Trump’s policies and continued uncertainty over the state of negotiations with China and other countries, sentiment remains highly cautious amid indications of a souring economic outlook and hits to company earnings from tariffs.
The benchmark index remains below levels prior to the April 2 announcement, and is over 10% off its February record close.
AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) rose 3.5% after the drugmaker raised its annual profit forecast on strong sales of its newer immunology drugs.