US STOCKS-Futures jump on Trump's softened tariff stance

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Updates with analyst quote

By Sruthi Shankar, Johann M Cherian

March 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street futures jumped on Monday, as investors held out hope for a more measured approach to U.S. tariffs, and awaited economic data for signals on the health of the U.S. economy and inflation.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is likely to exclude a set of sector-specific tariffs while applying reciprocal levies on April 2, according to media reports over the weekend that helped sentiment in early trading.

The main U.S. stock indexes closed slightly higher on Friday and marked weekly gains after Trump hinted at flexibility on a new round of tariffs set to go into effect next month.

"Arguing that the worst is over may be a premature conclusion," said Charalampos Pissouros, senior market analyst at brokerage XM.

"Trump has shown how unpredictable he is, while data could reinforce the notion that the U.S. economy is losing momentum. Another round of risk aversion as soon as this week cannot be ruled out."

Financial markets have whipsawed over the past several weeks as traders have been confronted by fears of a sharp U.S. economic slowdown after Trump announced a series of tariffs last month on some of its main trading partners including China, Mexico and Canada.

Several companies have also cited tariff uncertainty as they lowered their forecasts for the upcoming quarters. Data compiled by LSEG as of Friday showed, earnings of companies included in the S&P 500 are expected to grow by 10.5% in 2025, down by 3.5 percentage points since the beginning of the year.

However, U.S. stocks appear to have found a floor after weeks-long selloff that pushed the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC down by 10% from their record highs - commonly known as correction.

At 7:28 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 373 points, or 0.88%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 66.5 points, or 1.16% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 282.75 points, or 1.42%.

Investors were also awaiting a slew of economic indicators this week including business activity data for March, weekly jobless claims and the Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) price index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.

S&P Global's flash PMI readings later in the day are expected to show U.S. manufacturing and services sector activity slowed in March. The Chicago Fed's National Activity Index for the month of February is also on tap.

Technology stocks led the way higher in premarket trading. Amazon.com AMZN.O rose 1.6%, Nvidia NVDA.O added 1.8% and Apple AAPL.O gained 0.9%.

Super Micro Computer SMCI.O dipped after a report said Goldman Sachs downgraded the server maker to "sell."

Lockheed Martin LMT.N fell 1.7% as BofA Global Research downgraded the weapons maker to "neutral" from "buy".

Crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy MSTR.O advanced 5.2%, Coinbase added COIN.O gained 4.4% and Mara Holdings MARA.O climbed 4.6%, tracking a 2.8% rise in bitcoin prices BTC=.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 6182 2787;))