A woman carries an umbrella as she passes the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on February 9, 2017 in New York City.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images
Futures contracts linked to major US stock indices rose during Wednesday night’s session, suggesting an extension of the S&P 500’s three-day winning streak on Thursday.
Dow futures rose 45 points, while S&P 500 contracts added 0.2% similar. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.4%.
The movements in the extended trades came after a relatively calm day on Wall Street, which saw the S&P 500 rise 0.1% and mark a third consecutive day of gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average amounted to 36 points, while the Nasdaq Composite fell less than 0.1% amid a drop in Amazon shares during the regular session.
Investors watched a handful of stocks, including eBay, PayPal and Qualcomm in extended trades, after each issued a quarterly earnings report.
Of the three, eBay surpassed easily with a 9% rise in the after-hours market, after beating both profit and profit and issuing a more optimistic forecast than expected for the first quarter.
PayPal gained almost 3%, while Qualcomm fell more than 7% after reporting revenue below consensus estimates for its first fiscal quarter.
Apple rose 2% in extended negotiations after CNBC said it was close to finalizing an agreement with Hyundai-Kia to produce driverless cars. The news that the two may be close to an agreement comes after Hyundai said in January that it was in preliminary negotiations with the iPhone maker to develop a car.
The macroeconomic outlook remained in focus as traders prepared for the latest iteration of the Labor Department’s jobless claims report, scheduled to launch on Thursday at 8:30 am (Brasília time). Economists polled by Dow Jones expect initial orders to total 830,000 in the week ending January 30.
If the claims were made as expected, this would represent a small reduction from the initial 847,000 claims from the previous week.
The economic recovery and market performance have accompanied the severity of Covid-19 in the US, with some strategists saying that the launch of vaccines could lead to higher interest rates, if not above performance in cyclical or bank stocks.
“Covid’s feeling about the vaccine is still very low. This will improve as investors understand that vaccines will give you 1) immunity or 2) mild reaction (low severity),” wrote Evercore ISI strategist Dennis DeBusschere in an email on Wednesday.
“As investors and society at large realize that low severity is really important, the feeling of the vaccine will improve and [Treasury] yields will have another bigger gap, “he added.
Yield on the 10-year reference US Treasury note rose by about 3 basis points on Wednesday, to 1.14%.