Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Source: New York Stock Exchange
U.S. stock futures rose higher Monday night as Wall Street sought to bounce back from a rough week ahead of the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Forward contracts linked to the Dow Jones industrial average rose 140 points, or 0.5%. Those for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 added 0.6%.
The increase in futures contracts comes after a slump in equities last week. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 lost 1.5%, while the Dow fell 0.9% respectively. It was the worst week for the three major indices since October.
The disappointing week for equities came when Biden announced its $ 1.9 billion plan for economic relief as the country tried to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden is being inaugurated with the National Guard in Washington on Wednesday amid heightened security concerns following a riot on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
“In the coming week, global economic data and U.S. earnings reports will be plentiful, but what matters is whether President Elect Biden’s inauguration at 1/20 takes place quietly and whether Republicans in the Senate send signals of constructive cooperation or of a repeat in 2020, “BTIG chief equity and derivatives strategist Julian Emanuel said in a note to clients on Sunday.
Janet Yellen, Biden’s nominee for treasury secretary and former chair of the Federal Reserve, will appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. Yellen’s prepared remarks call for the federal government to ‘act big’.
Tuesday also begins a heavy week of earnings. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs will report their results in the fourth quarter before the clock, with Netflix numbers after the market closes.
The earnings season started sour last week. Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup lost ground on Friday after their earnings reports. JPMorgan beats Wall Street estimates on the top and bottom line, but Wells Fargo and Citi missed revenue expectations.
The US stock market closed on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.