US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq futures rise ahead of key data, Trump's China visit

By Ragini Mathur and Utkarsh Hathi

May 13 (Reuters) - S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures rose on Wednesday, recovering from the previous session's losses as investors awaited crucial economic numbers and U.S. President Donald Trump's China visit.

Talks between the U.S. and Iran have hit a stalemate. Trump said ahead of the high-stakes summit in Beijing that he did not expect to ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to help resolve the conflict with Tehran.

He also said he would press Xi to "open up" China to U.S. businesses and added Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a delegation of corporate leaders traveling with him. The world's two largest economies are also considering extending a truce on Chinese rare earth export curbs.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell on the day, snapping a three-session rally and offering markets some relief. O/R

Investors remain wary that a prolonged conflict could keep energy prices elevated, adding to inflationary pressures and complicating the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decisions.

"The expectation is still that oil's rise remains capped and that we get some kind of Iran deal dressed up in the right way. But it looks distant — way off at the moment — because they're not even talking about talking," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.

Markets are also bracing for a potentially more hawkish central bank under Kevin Warsh, whom the Senate confirmed to the board on Tuesday and could move to approve as chair as soon as Wednesday. Jerome Powell's term ends on Friday.

Morgan Stanley raised its 2026 year-end target for the S&P 500 .SPX to 8,000 from 7,800 previously, citing resilient corporate earnings. The brokerage said durable profits and positive operating leverage, helped in part by AI adoption, supported its more constructive view on U.S. equities.

At 07:36 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were down 122 points, or 0.25%, and S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 16.25 points, or 0.22%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 201.5 points, or 0.69%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC eased from record highs on Tuesday after U.S. consumer inflation posted the sharpest increase in three years in April.

Markets have largely priced out a Fed rate cut this year, while the probability of at least a 25-basis-point hike at the December meeting has climbed to more than 28%, from below 22% earlier in the week, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Producer price data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET and investors will be watching for signs of building input cost pressures.

Retail sales figures later in the week will also be scrutinized for evidence that higher gasoline and energy costs are starting to squeeze other areas of consumer spending.

A chip-stock selloff that weighed on markets in the previous session appeared to stabilize on Wednesday, with memory-chip makers leading the recovery.

Micron Technology MU.O jumped 5.4%, Western Digital WDC.O rose 2.6%, Seagate STX.O gained 2.2% and SanDisk SNDK.O climbed 4.3% in premarket trading.

Among other movers, Nebius Group NBIS.O jumped 15.4% after the AI cloud firm reported a nearly eightfold rise in quarterly revenue.