A child wearing a face mask sits on the Charging Bull statue, also known as the Wall Street Bull, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York, August 19, 2020.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
Stock futures climbed slightly higher in overnight trading on Sunday as Wall Street tries to build on a record-setting week.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 70 points, indicating a 60-point gain at Monday’s open. The S&P 500 futures and the Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1% each.
An unstoppable rally in major technology shares last week pushed the S&P 500 to levels above its previous record set before the pandemic. The broad equity benchmark posted its fourth straight positive week and closed at a fresh record on Friday.
Apple jumped more than 8% last week ahead of its 4-for-1 stock split, bringing its 2020 gains to nearly 70%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 2.6% last week, posting a six-week winning streak and notching its 36th intraday high. The Nasdaq has gained 26% this year.
The 30-stock Dow, however, is still about 5% below its record high from February as many of its consumer discretionary and industrial constituents have yet to fully recover from the unprecedented sell-off earlier this year.
Investors remained on high alert for updates on the coronavirus pandemic as the world attempts to ease restrictions and revive economic growth.
On Sunday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization of convalescent plasma for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, a treatment that uses blood plasma donated by people who’ve recovered from the virus.
President Donald Trump said at a news conference Sunday that the plasma treatment cuts t mortality rate by 35%.
The Trump administration is also considering fast tracking an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed in the U.K. for use in the United States ahead of the nation’s upcoming presidential election, according to a Financial Times report.
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