Futures Rise on Hopes of Vaccine-led Recovery

U.S. stock index futures were up on Wednesday as investors focused on prospects of a gradual vaccine-fueled economic recovery. Additionally, more monetary and fiscal support next year.

Britain’s approval of the emergency use of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) and Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine lifted sentiment. Moreover, the leading U.S. indexes on Tuesday slipped from intraday record highs on uncertainty over bigger stimulus checks.

Furthermore, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a quick vote to back outgoing President Donald Trump’s call. That was to increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000 from $600 on Tuesday.

Piotr Matys, the FX strategist at Rabobank, said the market believes that U.S. households will receive additional support. That is a few months from today, even if the government decides to pull back higher stimulus checks.

Stocks on the Move

Dow e-minis were up 91 points, or 0.3% at 07:04 a.m. ET. S&P 500 e-minis rose 13.25 points, or 0.36%. Moreover, Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 49 points, or 0.38%.

Meanwhile, the first known U.S. case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant was discovered in Britain but detected in Colorado. Scientists have said that the new variant is worse than previously identified strains of the SAR-CoV-2 variant. However, it is no more severe in the symptoms it causes.

The pandemic has infected over 19 million people. In the United States, it claimed the lives of over 334,000.

Expectations remain light for trading in the holiday-shortened week. It could boost volatility in the market.

The benchmark S&P 500 index is on course to end the month with a 3% gain. This was after a 10.8% rally in November. It has bounced back nearly 70% from its late-March trough. 

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) fueled mostly this year’s gains. However, in recent weeks, they have taken a back seat as investors shifted to economically-sensitive sectors on cheaper valuations. They have shifted to hopes of an eventual recovery.