Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures opened flat on Sunday night, before the first session of 2021, after a year of volatile trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell just 37 points, or 0.1%. The futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 fell marginally.
Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs on Thursday, the last day of trading in 2020, ending a year of surprisingly strong gains.
The 30-share Dow ended last year up 7.3%, and the S&P 500 rose 16.3% at that time. At one point in 2020, the two market benchmarks dropped more than 30% as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the global economy.
The real highlight of 2020 was the Nasdaq Composite, which rose 43.6% to its biggest gain in a year since 2009. Nasdaq’s top performance came with investors and traders flocking to technology stocks at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The unprecedented fiscal and monetary support for the economy – along with the development and implementation of several Covid-19 vaccines – has helped the market to recover from its massive decline to trade back at historic highs.
“The stock market is positioned for further gains in 2021 based on the two pillars of the coordinated fiscal and monetary policy of the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board and a successful implementation of the COVID vaccine,” wrote Marc Chaikin, Chaikin CEO Analytics. “However, we anticipate some bumps along the way.”
The launch in the United States of several Covid-19 vaccines has recently been slowed due to supply restrictions.
Moncef Slaoui, chief of Operation Warp Speed, said on Sunday that the United States could step up its distribution of vaccines by giving a group of Americans half doses of the drug developed by Moderna. “We know that for the Modern vaccine, giving half the dose to people between 18 and 55 years old … induces an immune response identical to the dose of 100 micrograms,” said Slaoui.
The number of coronavirus cases also continues to increase in the US, raising concerns about the speed of economic recovery in 2021. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed that more than 20 million Covid-19 infections were confirmed in the USA, along with more than 1.8 million deaths related to the virus. Several cases of a new coronavirus strain have also been confirmed across the country.
Wall Street is also eyeing Georgia as the state prepares for the second round of the Senate on Tuesday, which could give Democrats a majority in the House.
“With the runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday and the drama of the polling station on Wednesday, we expect two-way negotiations this week and an increase in short-term volatility,” added Chaikin.
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for unique insights and analysis, and live weekday scheduling around the world.