U.S. stock futures rose in early trading on Wednesday as markets continued to rally on optimism over economies emerging from coronavirus-led shutdowns.
Dow futures implied an opening gain of about 171 points. Dow futures gained 181 points, or 0.7%. Futures for the S&P 500 added 0.5%. Nasdaq 100 futures were higher by 0.4%.
The Nasdaq 100 index, which tracks the 100-largest companies in the Nasdaq Composite, entered Wednesday less than 1% from its record high set Feb. 19. The index has rallied 42.6% from an intraday low set on March 23. Those gains have been provided in large part by stocks that benefited from people staying at home due to the coronavirus. During premarket trading, the Invesco QQQ Trust — which tracks the Nasdaq 100 — traded 0.3% higher.
The S&P 500 is up 1% so far in June, bringing its gain from its pandemic low in March to more than 40%.
On Tuesday, stocks rose as optimism around reopening businesses overshadowed concerns about the global pandemic, U.S.-China trade tensions and nationwide protests. Equities got an extra boost in the final hour of trading and closed around their session highs.
Nationwide protests were largely calm on Monday evening.
“Despite several issues of importance — national riots, Chinese relations, an ongoing pandemic — the stock market is primarily focused on a single thing: the restart of U.S. and global economic activities,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, told CNBC.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 267 points, or 1.05% on Tuesday. The S&P 500 also registered a gain, climbing 0.82%.
Stocks tied to the reopening of states outperformed. Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America all rose at least 0.9%. Gap climbed 7.7%. Southwest gained 2.6%. Mall and shopping center operators saw robust gains on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq Composite was the relative underperformer, gaining 0.6% as investors focused on the economic reopening and rotated out of the stay-at-home plays.
“The broader stock market (i.e., small cap stocks, cyclical sectors, international stock markets and emerging stock markets) is increasingly participating more pronouncedly in this rally suggesting the recession is ending,” Paulsen added.
Stocks have continued their trek upward as risk appetite grows on optimism that the worst of the economic downturn from the spread of the coronavirus is in the past. Gains in June follow back-to-back monthly increases in April and May for U.S. equities.
The Dow is now up more than 41% from its 52-week low on March 23.
Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel said the stock market rally still has further to go thanks to the massive support from the Federal Reserve.
“I think this rally has further to go. It has all those doubters there but it’s the liquidity that the Fed provided that I think is the prime determinant,” Siegel said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
While stocks have largely shrugged off unrest around the country, federal and local governments are taking action. Major cities like New York and Chicago have imposed curfews in an effort to dissipate the mass gatherings. President Donald Trump said Monday night he will deploy the military if states and cities failed to quell the demonstrations.
On Wednesday, the ADP private sector jobs report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Analysts polled by FactSet are expecting a loss of 8.75 million jobs in May. This comes after payrolls hemorrhaged more than 20 million jobs in April as companies sliced workers amid a coronavirus-induced shutdown that took most of the U.S. economy offline. April marked the worst job loss in the history of the ADP report.
Markit Services PMI and ISM Non-manufacturing survey will also come out before the bell on Wednesday.
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Investors are weighing excitement about the economy reopening with escalating tensions between the U.S. and China and nationwide protests.