U.S. equity markets were battling back from their steepest one-day selloff in nearly three months on Friday, aided by Beijing's statements that it's committed to honoring the terms of the phase one trade deal and wants to improve relations with Washington.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 680 points, or 2.71 percent, in the opening minutes of trading, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.55 percent and 2.37 percent, respectively.

Former Chinese finance minister and Cabinet adviser Zhu Guangyao said on Thursday evening that relations between the U.S. and China were “far from satisfactory” and that the two countries should “waste no time” improving them, according to the Associated Press.

“Objectively speaking, the epidemic has had an impact on the implementation of this agreement, but in this kind of situation, China emphasizes that we should work hard together to ensure the implementation of the Phase 1 agreement," he said.

Tensions between the two countries have flared after President Trump accused Beijing of being slow in its initial response to curb the COVID-19 outbreak.

Zhu’s comments came just hours after all three of the major averages suffered their steepest one-day slide since March 16. On Thursday, all three fell at least 5.27 percent after signs of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases and a warning from the Federal Reserve that the economy's recovery would be slow.

Looking at stocks, airlines, cruise operators, hotels and other travel-related names were sharply higher after bearing the brunt of the selling on Thursday. American Airlines said second-quarter revenue will be down 90 percent year-over-year amid a 75 percent drop in total-system capacity.

Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems was asked to put its production restart of parts on hold to avoid creating a glut of new planes as airlines are still recalibrating after COVID-19, The Wall Street Journal reported during the final hour of trading on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Tesla received a downgrade to “underweight” at Morgan Stanley due to concerns the electric-vehicle maker isn’t as in as strong a position as before the pandemic. Analyst Adam Jonas pointed to a deterioration in U.S.-China relations, weaker China demand, price cuts and production challenges as reasons for the downgrade.

Rental car company Hertz wants to sell up to $1 billion of stock as its share price has soared despite the possibility a bankruptcy filing could make the stock worthless.

On the earnings front, fitness-wear maker Lululemon reported net revenue sank 17 percent from a year ago as the company shuttered its U.S. and European stores amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Lululemon has reopened 60 percent of its locations and plans to have the rest back in operation by the end of June. Read more at FOX Business