BNY Mellon Investments chief strategist Alicia Levine on her outlook for the stock market and bitcoin.
U.S. stock futures rallied Thursday as Congress moved closer to reaching a deal on a COVID-19 relief package.
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Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 100 points, or 0.33%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were higher by 0.47% and 0.46%, respectively.
The early advance comes after the Nasdaq closed in record territory on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept policy on hold and reiterated its intention to keep rates low for years.
Top lawmakers will on Thursday continue to try to work out the final details of the $908 billion bipartisan proposal that is gaining momentum.
The package is made up of two parts – a $748 billion bill that extends unemployment benefits, Paycheck Protection Program funding and potentially direct payments to individuals; and a $160 billion bill that provides funding for state and local governments and liability protections for businesses.
CONGRESS CLOSING IN ON $900B CORONAVIRUS RELIEF DEAL THAT COULD INCLUDE SECOND STIMULUS CHECK
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Wednesday that the two sides “made major headway” toward a deal.
Looking at stocks, Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine is expected to receive an endorsement from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel Thursday, paving the way for receiving emergency use authorization a day later. The rollout of the vaccine would then begin almost immediately.
Meanwhile, Texas and nine other states on Wednesday sued Google, alleging the search giant conducted anti-competitive business practices in the online advertising market. The lawsuit also accused Google of colluding with Facebook Inc. to manipulate advertising auctions. A spokesperson for Google called the lawsuit “meritless” while Facebook did not respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
Elsewhere, Roku Inc. received multiple price-target increases from Wall Street analysts after the company announced late Wednesday that it has reached a deal to add streaming service HBO Max to its platform. The service will be available beginning Thursday.
In earnings, General Mills Inc. reported quarterly results that beat on both the top and bottom lines, boosted by sales of pet food and baking. The company forecast 7% organic sales growth for the current quarter, similar to that of the previous quarter.
Homebuilder Lennar Corp. reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue, benefiting from record-low interest rates and a flight from city centers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
FedEx will report its quarterly results after the closing bell. Analysts surveyed by Refintiiv are expecting adjusted earnings of $4.01 per share on revenue of $19.46 billion.
Looking at commodities, gold climbed $22.60 to $1,881.70 an ounce while West Texas Intermediate crude oil ticked up 15 cents to $47.97 per barrel.
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In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was trading down 0.04% after the Bank of England kept policy on hold, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX 30 rallied 0.32% and 0.73%, respectively.
Asian markets closed higher across the board with Japan’s Nikkei 225 adding 0.18%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rising 0.82% and China’s Shanghai Composite index advancing 1.12%.
