Pedestrians walk on snow near Wall Street Subway Station near the New York Stock Exchange.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Futures on major US stock indices have risen at the beginning of the extended trading on Monday evening after ending strongly last week.
Dow futures rose 180 points, suggesting a default opening of about the same magnitude, while S&P 500 contracts added 19.25 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 futures gained 67.5 points or 0.5%.
The US stock exchange closed on Monday for Presidents’ Day.
The major averages ended last week with decent gains, even though the February rally seemed to be cooling somewhat. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded two slightly modified days, while the S&P 500 fluctuated by 0.2% for three days in a row.
However, the S&P 500 ended the week with a gain of 1.2%, while the Dow added 1%. The technologically powerful Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7%. All three closed at record levels on Friday.
Stock market strategists say the launch of the Covid-19 vaccine, economic reopening and expectations for a greater fiscal stimulus are key to the market-supported February.
“Covid is far from defeated, but the path to economic normalization is clearer as more vaccines are approved that reduce hospitalizations and eliminate deaths,” Dennis DeBusschere, a strategist at Evercore ISI, said in an email.
“Secretary of the Treasury [Janet] Yellen’s strong arguments for further stimulus, followed by the Fed Chair [Jerome] Powell described the maximum employment as “our national target” helped raise bond yields, inflation expectations and oil prices last week, “he added.
Dow gained 4.9% in February, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 5.9% and 7.8%, respectively. The S&P 500 recorded ten record closures in 2021.
However, DeBusschere warned that rising interest rates and an uncertain political outlook could prevent too short-term growth in short-term trading, and advised investors to stick to cyclical stocks that could see the most positive as the US economy recovers. .
Those so-called cyclical sectors, the most sensitive to an economic recovery, led the rally in February. Energy has grown by over 13% so far, with funding and materials among the leading sectors.
Freezing weather in regions of the United States on Monday triggered a new rally in the energy future and placed West Texas Intermediate’s gross contracts above $ 60 a barrel for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
In corporate news, CVS Health, Occidental Petroleum, Palantir and others will report earnings on Tuesday.
Robinhood, Melvin Capital and Citadel executives are due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. It is likely that lawmakers will bring their group to the wild in GameStop and other very short-circuited actions.
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