US Stocks Likely To Open Higher As Commerce Secretary Confirms Deal With China: Nike, Worthington Steel Surge Amid Upbeat Earnings

U.S. futures rose on Friday following Thursday’s rally. Futures of major benchmark indices were trading higher.

The U.S. and China have finalized a trade understanding, building on an agreement reached last month in Geneva.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the deal with China, which was signed two days ago, noting that the White House has immediate plans to secure agreements with ten other major trading partners.

The accord with China codifies terms established during recent trade discussions between Beijing and Washington.

The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.27% and the two-year bond was at 3.75%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 79.3% likelihood of the Federal Reserve keeping the current interest rates unchanged in its July meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were higher in premarket on Friday. The SPY was up 0.27% at $613.54, while the QQQ advanced 0.33% to $548.03, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed positively on Thursday, led by significant gains in communication services, consumer discretionary, and energy stocks.

This broad upward movement contributed to U.S. stocks settling higher. However, real estate and consumer staples stocks diverged from the overall market trend, ending the day lower.

Individual company performances also bolstered the market. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, while Worthington Steel, Inc. WS shares surged by over 20% after the company announced stronger-than-expected financial results for its fourth quarter.

On the economic front, the first-quarter GDP saw a downward revision to -0.5% from the previously reported -0.2%. This revision was primarily attributed to a widening goods trade deficit, influenced by weaker exports.

Despite this adjustment, other economic indicators released on Thursday painted a more optimistic picture.

Factory orders in May demonstrated a robust increase, soaring by 16.4% month-over-month to $343.6 billion, marking the largest surge since July 2014. This impressive figure far exceeded market expectations of an 8.5% gain, following a revised 6.6% drop in April.

Furthermore, weekly jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 236,000 in the week ending June 21, surpassing economists’ forecasts of no change and signaling continued resilience in the labor market.

Insights From Analysts:

With July beginning next week, Ryan Detrick of Carson Research highlighted historical data, citing that the seventh month of the year has seen consistent gains for 10 years in a row.

“The S&P 500 has gained in July for an incredible 10 years in a row. One more and it ties the longest win streak ever,” he posted on X.

The graph shared by him showed that one more month of positive gains in the month of July will make this streak of 11 years equal to another 11-year-long streak from the 1950s.

Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research highlighted that his firm has been observing and agreeing with the notion that the stock market rally since April 9 suggests that investors believe that the tariff issue will be mostly behind us by the end of the summer.

On April 9, President Donald Trump postponed his April 2 Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.

Trump’s Tariff Turmoil has had “remarkably little impact on the forward profit margin of the S&P 500 so far. It has been essentially flat since the start of this year but at roughly a record high of 13.7%,” he said.

Meanwhile, Louis Navellier said that “The AI theme is alive and well, best demonstrated by the renewed confidence in Nvidia Corp. NVDA, which is taking semiconductors and software along for the ride.”

“While longer term, the AI story is to eliminate a lot of white-collar jobs, we have yet to see that put a dent in unemployment numbers. The offset is that the jobs will be going away because AI is cheaper, which should drive corporate profit margins higher.”

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Friday:

• May’s personal income, spending, and headline and core PCE Index data will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• Final consumer sentiment data will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

• Apogee Enterprises Inc. APOG was up 1.90% in premarket on Friday as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 47 cents per share on revenue of $325.48 million, before the opening bell.
• Cineverse Corp. CNVS rose 1.67% as analysts expect it to report a loss of 7 cents per share on revenue of $14.29 million, after the closing bell.
• Nike Inc. NKE jumped 9.67% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results for fiscal 2025. The company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $11.1 billion, beating analyst estimates of $10.72 billion.
• American Outdoor Brands Inc. AOUT gained 11.20% after posting upbeat fourth-quarter results. American Outdoor Brands reported quarterly adjusted earnings of 13 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate for losses of 11 cents per share.
• Concentrix Corp. CNXC tumbled 8.40% after reporting mixed second-quarter results after Thursday's closing bell. Concentrix reported quarterly earnings of $2.70 per share, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $2.75.
• Pony AI Inc. PONY rose 4.87% after reports that Uber Technologies Inc. UBER is in talks to help fund a takeover deal with the company.

Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.81% to hover around $65.77 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 1.25% to hover around $3,286.11 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.54% at the 97.1550 level.

Asian markets ended lower on Friday, except Japan's Nikkei 225 and India's S&P BSE Sensex indices. While Australia's ASX 200, China’s CSI 300, South Korea's Kospi, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indices declined. European markets were higher in early trade.

Read Next:

• Microsoft Is ‘Playing Chess, And Others Are Playing Checkers:’ Dan Ives Says MSFT Could Be A $5 Trillion Company In 18 Months

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock