Wall Street points modestly higher as Trump floats lighter China tariffs ahead of weekend talks

By JIANG JUNZHE and MATT OTT Associated Press Wall Street pointed modestly higher before the opening bell as investors pored over the latest corporate earnings ahead of weekend agreement talks between China and the U S Markets initially seemed indifferent to what appeared to be a de-escalation of the U S -China bargain rift by President Donald Trump who floated cutting tariffs on China from to Tariff on China seems right Up to Scott B Trump wrote on social media early Friday referring to Scott Bessent his Treasury chief and point person on the exchange talks Futures for the S P rose while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher Nasdaq futures rose Bessent and U S Pact Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Geneva this weekend amid growing U S sphere anxiety over the impact of the tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods Also early Friday China shared that its exports rose at a faster-than-expected annual pace in April down from the month before Exports to the United States dropped more than however as Trump s steep tariff increases took effect China is the world s biggest exporter and second largest business sector In premarket equities trading Friday shares of the tour website Expedia fell after it trimmed its full-year bookings forecast The owner of Vrbo and Hotels com highlighted a decline in movement demand to the U S including a decline in bookings from Canada Other travel-related companies including Hilton and Airbnb have broadcasted a similar softening in voyage demand to the U S in their contemporary earnings reports Elsewhere in Europe at midday Germany s DAX gained while the CAC in Paris was up Britain s FTSE added Hong Kong s Hang Seng gained to while the Shanghai Composite Index lost to Tokyo s Nikkei jumped to while the Kospi in Seoul dipped to Australia s S P ASX added to Taiwan s Taiex surged and India s Sensex fell U S benchmark crude oil gained to per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Brent crude the international standard added to per barrel The U S dollar fell to Japanese yen from yen The euro rose to from