The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen on Wall Street in New York City, November 4, 2019. — AFP pic
JANUARY 7 — US stock index futures signalled small gains for Wall Street at the open on today, as investors took comfort from the absence of fresh escalation in the standoff between the United States and Iran.
The three main US indexes yesterday rebounded from early losses that was sparked by a rush to safe-haven assets following the killing of a top Iranian general last week by the United States.
“Without fresh escalation, investors cannot maintain a heightened sense of geopolitical anxiety. The recovery of US shares yesterday set the tone for today’s rebound in Asia and Europe,” Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex, wrote in a note.
Helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq futures outperform on Tuesday, Micron Technology Inc rose 3.1 per cent in premarket trading after Cowen & Co upgraded the chipmaker to “outperform” on earlier-than-expected recovery in memory market.
The brokerage also raised its rating on hard disk maker Western Digital Corp to “outperform”. Its shares rose 2.8 per cent.
Tesla Inc gained 1.9 per cent after the company launched its Model Y electric sports utility vehicle program at its new Shanghai factory.
At 07:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 13 points, or 0.05 per cent. S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.05 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 25 points, or 0.28 per cent.
Investors will be closely tracking a slew of economic data later in the day, including US trade and factory goods orders for November and the Institute for Supply Management’s services sector activity index for December. After the index slowed to 53.9 points in November, economists expect it to stabilise at 54.5 points in the last month.
Market participants are also awaiting the fourth-quarter reporting season, which begins in earnest next week. Earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to dip 0.5 per cent, the second consecutive quarter of decline, according to Refinitiv IBES data. — Reuters