Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Source: New York Stock Exchange
Equity futures rose on Thursday after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a large Covid aid package was still needed for a full recovery in the US
Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 35 points. The S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures traded slightly higher.
Yellen told CNBC on Thursday after the bell rang that more stimulus was needed even though some economic data suggest a quick recovery. She added that a $ 1.9 trillion stimulus deal could help the US return to full employment in a year.
“We think it’s very important to have a big package [that] addresses the pain it has caused – 15 million Americans behind their rent, 24 million adults and 12 million children who do not have enough food, small businesses fail, “Yellen told CNBC’s Sara Eisen during a Closing Bell interview.
“I think the price of doing too little is much higher than the price of doing something big. We think the benefits will far outweigh the long-term costs,” she added.
The stock market rally on record appears to have declined as fears of higher rates and higher inflation have crept in. The S&P 500 fell for the third day in a row on Thursday, after a worse-than-expected reading of jobless claims and poor Walmart guidance. .
Many on Wall Street believe that for the market to expand further, expectations for an additional fiscal stimulus and a smooth reopening must become a reality.
“Much of our reasoning for additional earnings here depends on the continued belief that the major engines that helped transport the market to current levels will remain intact,” Wells Fargo’s global market strategist Scott Wren said in a statement. . One of the driving forces is “the additional stimulus from Congress, which will help close the gap between now and when vaccines are widely distributed.”
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