President Donald Trump departed Beijing Friday afternoon local time without any immediate sign that the US and China have resolved thorny challenges dogging their fractious relationship, but with a freshly stabilized relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping - for now.
Investors are worried about higher energy values and supply chain issues in view of the Middle East conflict. The Trump-Xi summit has not yielded any progress to solve the crisis.
Brent crude futures traded above $107 a barrel, while gold fell nearly 2 percent to $4,579 an ounce.
Initial trends from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower on Friday.
As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were losing 336.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were losing 75.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 413.75 points.
The U.S. major averages finished higher on Thursday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also moved higher, adding to Wednesday's gains and once again reaching new record closing highs.
The U.S. major averages all finished the day firmly positive but off their highs of the session. The Dow advanced 370.26 points or 0.8 percent to 50,063.46, the Nasdaq jumped 232.88 points or 0.9 percent to 26,635.22 and the S&P 500 climbed 56.99 points or 0.9 percent to 7,501.24.
On the economic front, the Empire State Manufacturing Index for May will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 7.8, while it was up 11.0 in the prior month.
The Industrial Production for April will be released at 9.15 am ET. The consensus is 0.2 percent, while it was down 0.5 percent in the prior month.
Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be published at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 672, while the U.S. rig count was 548.
Asian stocks declined on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index tumbled 1.02 percent to 4,135.39.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped 1.62 percent to 25,962.73.
Japanese markets lost ground. The Nikkei average fell 1.99 percent to 61,409.29. The broader Topix index settled 0.39 percent lower at 3,863.97.
Australian markets ended marginally lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.11 percent to 8,630.80 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.16 percent lower at 8,870.60.
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Business News
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.