US pre-open: Futures point to gains ahead of earnings deluge
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Monday 13 Jul 2020
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures had stocks opening in the green ahead of the bell on Monday as investors appeared to ignore another record spike in new Covid-19 cases in Florida at the weekend.
As of 1215 BST, Dow futures were up 0.55%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.49% and 0.61% firmer, respectively.
The Dow Jones closed 369.21 points higher on Friday as news about a potential coronavirus treatment bolstered investor sentiment around prospects for the economic recovery.
The southern state of Florida reported a total of 15,299 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, marking the single highest single-day total for any US state since the pandemic began, while the US as a whole has reported more than 60,000 new cases every day for the last three days.
Perhaps as a result of the increased number of new cases, tech stocks were making positive moves ahead of the open as investors remained positive on the resilience of Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Tesla amid the pandemic.
Also in focus, Pfizer and BioNTech shares rallied ahead of the open after the pharma groups said two of their vaccine candidates to protect against the coronavirus had received Fast Track designation status from the Food and Drug Administration.
Investors were also looking ahead to the start of earnings season this week, with JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all set to report second quarter earnings on the following day.
Markets.com's Neil Wilson said: "A positive start to the week for global equities reflected a strong finish on Wall Street on Friday and an unwillingness to get bogged down by record global daily case numbers.
"Nevertheless, the spike in Covid cases has slowed reopening in several states and this could translate into negative rate of change in some of the economic data which could be a problem for bulls. It's a big week for data, not least the start of the Q2 earnings season on Wall Street."
Wilson added that high-frequency economic data should continue to point to recovery, but noted that it would be the rate of change that matters more.
On the macro calendar, the Government's monthly budget statement will be published at 1900 BST, while Federal Reserve heads John Williams and Robert Kaplan will deliver speeches at 1630 BST and 1800 BST, respectively.
In corporate news, chipmakers were in the green after Analog Devices made an offer to buy Maxim Integrated as part of a $21bn all-stock deal.
Pepsi will report earnings on Monday.
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