By Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday as positive comments from China on U.S. trade talks put a cap on this week's politically driven selling.
Shares in one of this year's market success stories, Beyond Meat (O:BYND), surged another 11% as it added McDonald's Corp (N:MCD) to the list of clients for its plant-based patties.
The S&P 500 fell as much 1.1% on Tuesday on news that U.S. Democrats were planning an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, but recovered on Wednesday after Trump hinted at a sooner-than-expected trade deal with China. The benchmark index closed about 1.4% shy of its record high hit in late-July.
Beijing said on Thursday it was in close communication with the United States and was preparing to make progress with their trade talks in October.
"President Trump has a habit of changing his tune when it comes to China, so some traders might remain skeptical of the remarks," CMC Markets UK analyst David Madden said in a note to clients.
"We have heard this sort of commentary before, and it hasn't always worked out, but the mood is upbeat nonetheless."
Investors are also eyeing a final reading of U.S. economic growth for the second quarter at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) that is expected to remain unchanged from initial estimates. Data on weekly jobless claims is also due at the same time.
Trade-sensitive chipmakers rose in premarket trading, with Advanced Micro Devices Inc (O:AMD), Micron Technology Inc (O:MU) and Nvidia Corp (O:NVDA) up between 0.1% and 0.5%. Micron is set to report its quarterly results later in the day.
At 7:05 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 43 points, or 0.16%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 4 points, or 0.13% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.02%.
Facebook Inc (O:FB) slipped 1% as a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the U.S. Justice Department will open an antitrust investigation of the social media company.
Leisure cruise operator Carnival Corp (N:CCL) dropped 2.4% before the release of its quarterly results.
