WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Monday, extending the upward trend seen over the past few sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 55 points.
Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to news that China's Finance Ministry has announced plans to lower tariffs on a range of products, including frozen pork, pharmaceuticals and some high-tech components.
China said tentative import tax rates will be implemented for 859 types of products beginning January 1 in order to optimize the trade structure and promote high-quality economic development.
The tentative import tax rates, which were imposed on 706 types of products last year, are lower than the most-favored-nation tariffs.
The move by China comes following the recent news that that the U.S. and China have reached an agreement on a phase one trade deal.
Meanwhile, traders seem likely to shrug off a report from the Commerce Department showing an unexpected slump in durable goods orders, as the data comes from before the news on the trade front,
The report said durable goods orders plunged by 2.0 percent in November after edging up by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in October.
The sharp decline came as a surprise to economists, who had expected durable goods orders to jump by 1.5 percent compared to the 0.5 percent increase that had been reported for the previous month.
Excluding a nosedive in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders came in unchanged in November after rising by 0.3 percent in October. Economists had expected ex-transportation orders to tick up by 0.2 percent.
Shortly after the start of trading, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on new home sales in the month of November.
New home sales are expected to inch up by 0.1 percent to an annual rate of 734,000 in November after falling by 0.7 percent to a rate of 733,000 in October.
After ending last Thursday's session mostly higher, stocks saw some further upside during trading on Friday. With the continued upward move, the major averages once again ended the session at new record closing highs.
The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Dow rose 78.13 points or 0.3 percent to 28,455.09, the Nasdaq climbed 37.74 points or 0.4 percent to 8,924.96 and the S&P 500 advanced 15.85 points or 0.5 percent to 3,221.22.
For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared by 2.2 percent, the S&P 500 surged up by 1.7 percent and the Dow jumped by 1.1 percent.
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