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Futures up: Dow 0.98%, S&P 500 1.36%, Nasdaq 1.89%

Oct 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on

Monday following Friday's pullback, as investors returned to

risk assets after President Donald Trump's softer tone eased

concerns over renewed U.S.-China trade tensions.

Trump on Friday said he would impose an additional 100%

tariff on China's U.S.-bound exports, along with new export

controls on critical U.S.-made software in retaliation for

Beijing tightening rare earth restrictions.

The revived trade tensions sent the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq,

both previously on track to register weekly gains, to suffer

their steepest weekly declines in months.

However, in a more conciliatory tone over the weekend, Trump

posted that "it will all be fine" and the U.S. did not want to

"hurt" China.

China on Sunday blamed the U.S. for the escalation. However,

Beijing did not roll out further countermeasures ahead of a

potential meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart

later this month, which the U.S. president threatened to cancel.

"The path for markets in the near term depend heavily on the

path escalation takes," analysts at UBS Global Wealth Management

said in a note.

"More generally, we think that the bull market remains

intact and so pullbacks should offer an opportunity for

investors, who are underallocated to equities, to consider

adding long-term exposure."

The AI-driven momentum and optimism around U.S. rate cuts

have helped markets in the recent months.

At 05:23 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 448 points, or

0.98%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 89.75 points, or 1.36%,

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 462 points, or 1.89%.

Investor focus is also on the earnings season that kicks off

this week with major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )

, Goldman Sachs ( GS ), Citigroup ( C/PN ), and Wells Fargo ( WFC )

set to release quarterly results on Tuesday.

The season will be a crucial litmus test for U.S. stock

markets and it will provide fresh clues on the economy at a time

when major official data releases remain delayed due to a

government shutdown that is currently in its 13th day.

In premarket trading, shares of "Magnificent Seven"

companies rose following Friday's pullback. Nvidia ( NVDA ) was

up 3.7%, Tesla gained 2.8%, Microsoft ( MSFT ) advanced

1.5%, while Meta and Alphabet rose 1.6% each.

In the Middle East, Hamas handed over the first group of the

last surviving Israeli hostages, a key step in ending two years

of devastating conflict in Gaza as part of a ceasefire deal

pushed by Trump.