Stock Futures Higher Amid Cooling Trade Tensions

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are trading higher today and appear ready to build off last week's momentum. The Dow is looking to secure its eighth straight gain, which would mark its longest win streak since September. Driving markets this morning are easing trade war tensions between the U.S. and China. On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted, "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast." The telecom company has struggled following a mid-April U.S. sanction. 

Continue reading for more on today's market, including:

• Options traders blitzed these biotech ETFs after Trump talked drug prices.
• 3 volatile drug stocks.
• This Chinese tech stock is staring down familiar resistance.
• Plus, Xerox ditches Fujifilm deal; QCOM's NXP bid gets good news; and Ford resumes F-150 production.

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 976,251 call contracts traded on Friday, compared to 585,117 put contracts. The single-session equity put/call ratio jumped to 0.60, while the 21-day moving average remained at 0.63.
2. Xerox Corp (NYSE:XRX) stock is down 4.7% in electronic trading, after the photocopy specialist dropped a $6.1 billion merger deal with Fujifilm. Activist investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who collectively own 15% stake in Xerox, believed XRX was undervalued in the deal. Xerox stock is now on track to open below its year-to-date breakeven level.
3. Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) stock is up 2.6% ahead of the bell, after Bloomberg reported China has resumed its review of the chipmaker's proposed $44 billion bid for NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI). Qualcomm stock fell to a two-year low of $48.56 on April 26 after earnings, but has since have rallied, and could close above its 50-day moving average today for the first time since February.
4. Shares of Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) are up 0.4% in electronic trading, on reports the automaker will resume production of it F-150 pickup trucks as early as this Friday, May 18. Ford had suspended production after fire at a supplier factory created a parts shortage. Since falling to a five-year low of $10.14 on March 2, Ford stock has traded in a tight range, with the $11.50 level serving as stiff resistance. 

5. Speeches from Loretta Mester and James Bullard start off the week, as well as earnings expected from Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), Mazor Robotics, Switch (SWCH), and Vipshop (VIPS).

Asian Stocks Higher, Europe Pushed Lower By Italy Elections

Stocks in Asia finished mostly higher today. Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.5% with help from the real estate sector, while weakness in tech stocks sent South Korea's Kospi 0.06% lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng picked up 1.4%, and China's Shanghai Composite finished up 0.3%.

European markets are lower at midday, as traders focus on cooling oil prices and progress toward a coalition deal between two populist parties in Italy. However, healthcare stocks are a pocket of strength, with the sector recovering from Trump-related losses suffered last week. Both London's FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 are down 0.2%, while Germany's DAX has shed 0.3% at last check.