Pedestrians walk through the snow past Wall Street Subway Station, near the New York Stock Exchange.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Futures contracts linked to major US stock market indices rose at the start of extended trading Monday evening after ending strong last week.
Dow futures rose 180 points, suggesting an implicit opening of about the same magnitude, while S&P 500 contracts totaled 19.25 points, or 0.5%. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 67.5 points, or 0.5%.
The U.S. stock market closed Monday for Presidents Day.
The main averages ended last week with decent gains, although the February rally seemed to cool down a bit. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average posted two unchanged days, while the S&P 500 spun 0.2% for three days in a row.
Still, the S&P 500 ended the week with a 1.2% gain, while the Dow added 1%. The highly technological Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7%. All three closed Friday at record levels.
Stock strategists say the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine, economic reopening and expectations for more fiscal stimulus are key to the February market boom so far.
“Covid is far from defeated, but the path to economic normalization is clearer as more vaccines are approved that reduce hospitalizations and eliminate fatalities,” Dennis DeBusschere, a strategist at Evercore ISI.
“Minister of Finance [Janet] Yellen’s strong arguments for additional stimulus followed by Fed Chair [Jerome] Powell, who described maximum employment as “our national target,” helped raise bond yields, inflation expectations and oil prices last week, ”he added.
The Dow gained 4.9% in February, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 5.9% and 7.8%, respectively. The S&P 500 has reached ten record closures in 2021.
However, DeBusschere warned that rising interest rates and uncertain policy prospects could prevent operations from growing too frothy in the short term and advised investors to stay in cyclical stocks that could see the most positive. as the US economy recovers.
Those so-called cyclical sectors, the most sensitive to an economic rebound, have led the February rally. So far, energy has increased by more than 13%, with financing and materials also among the main sectors.
In the business news, CVS Health, Occidental Petroleum, Palantir and others will report gains on Tuesday.
Robinhood, Melvin Capital and Citadel executives are scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. Lawmakers are likely to have the group in wild negotiations on GameStop and other stocks with a strong short-range.
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