Stock market today: Wall Street points toward gains as China considers US overtures on tariffs

By JIANG JUNZHE and MATT OTT Associated Press Wall Street was poised to open with gains Friday after China s Commerce Ministry declared Beijing is evaluating overtures from the U S regarding President Donald Trump s tariffs Futures for the S P gained before the bell and were on track for a ninth straight day of gains Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added and Nasdaq futures ticked up Exxon Mobil s stated its lowest first-quarter profit in years stung by weaker crude prices and higher costs Its shares ticked up less than before markets opened Friday Shares in rival Chevron fell more than after it also shared its smallest first quarter profit in years A barrel of U S benchmark crude fell below this week a level at which various producers can no longer turn a profit On Friday a barrel of U S crude fell another cents to Brent crude the European standard declined cents to per barrel Potency prices mostly have been in decline since Trump s inauguration in January with the cost of a barrel of oil sliding as much as At this time last year a barrel of U S crude cost Uncertainty about the impact of Trump s on-again-off-again tariff announcements has consumers and businesses feeling anxious about the future Rapidly falling oil prices signal pessimism about economic increase and can be a harbinger of a recession as manufacturers cut production businesses cut tour costs and families rethink vacation plans Late Thursday device behemoths Amazon and Apple released their latest results Shares of Apple fell about overnight after the iPhone company beat Wall Street expectations but forecast an additional million to its costs in the current quarter as a impact of the tariffs if they remain in place as revealed Amazon shares fell close to after the online retailer released better-than-expected results but also explained that tariffs were clouding its near-term forecast Friday the cabinet distributed its April jobs record showing that American employers added a better-than-expected jobs Economists expected the U S Labor Department to analysis that employers added jobs last month That s a healthy number but it would be down sharply from the surprisingly strong jobs added in March Various economists worry the job territory could deteriorate with Trump s massive taxes on imports to the U S likely to raise costs for Americans and American businesses which could end in slower economic rise However hopes that Trump may eventually roll back particular of his tariffs after reaching arrangement deals with other countries has helped to patronage markets this week On Thursday the S P rose for an eighth straight gain its longest winning streak since August In Europe at midday Germany s DAX advanced the CAC in Paris climbed and Britain s FTSE was In Asian trading Hong Kong s Hang Seng surged to while markets in Shanghai were closed for a population holiday Taiwan s benchmark jumped An unnamed Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesperson was cited as saying that Beijing had taken note of various statements by senior U S officers indicating a willingness to negotiate over tariffs At the same time the U S has in recent times taken the initiative to convey information to the Chinese side on a number of occasions through relevant parties hoping to talk with the Chinese side In this regard the Chinese side is making an assessment it stated Tokyo s Nikkei picked up to Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato drew attention by mentioning that the country s more than trillion in U S Treasury bonds could potentially be a card on the table in negotiations with Washington over Trump s steep tariffs on autos and other imports Elsewhere in Asia South Korea s Kospi rose to and Australia s S P ASX added closing at