Dow futures continue to gain on vaccine hopes
The Dow Industrials are eyeing a third straight day of gains
U.S. equity futures are pointing to a higher open, with the Dow Industrials eyeing a third straight day of gains.
Dow futures are suggesting a rise of 0.8% when the Wednesday trading session begins on Wall Street.
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The bond market will be closed in observance of the Veterans Day holiday.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped by 0.3% and China's Shanghai Composite index declined 0.5% after new Chinese regulations focused on technology companies prompted selling in that sector.
E-commerce giant Alibaba's shares plunged 8.4% even as the company was in the midst of its annual Singles Day sales festival. Tencent, owner of the popular WeChat social media platform, sank 5.1% and online retailer JD.com tumbled 7.6%
In Europe, London's FTSE added 0.6%, Germany's DAX gained 0.3% and France's CAC rose 0.4%.
On Wall Street, stocks downshifted on Tuesday after a powerful worldwide rally the day before. It was the second straight day that rising hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine pushed investors to reorder which stocks they see winning and losing.
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The S&P 500 dipped 0.1% to 3,545.53, after erasing most of an early loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.9% to 29,420.92 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.4%, to 11,553.86.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 43268.94 | -120.66 | -0.28% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5916.98 | +23.36 | +0.40% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18987.468095 | +195.66 | +1.04% |
The week got a strong start after Pfizer announced Monday that a potential COVID-19 vaccine it’s developing with German partner BioNTech may be 90% effective, based on early but incomplete test results.
Stocks of smaller U.S. companies, which tend to move more with expectations for the economy than their bigger counterparts, rallied again.
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High prices for Big Tech stocks that carried the stock market through the pandemic, are now facing more scrutiny. Tech stocks have soared through 2020 on expectations they’ll continue to thrive if the economy is in lockdown mode. But that’s left their prices looking expensive even after accounting for their huge profits.
Amazon fell 3.5%. It also is facing antitrust charges filed by European Union regulators on Tuesday that accuse it of using its access to data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 204.61 | +2.91 | +1.44% |
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 417.79 | +2.03 | +0.49% |
| FB | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
Microsoft fell 3.4%, and Facebook lost 2.3%. Those drops have outsized effects on the S&P 500 because they're some of the largest companies in the index by market value.
President Trump's refusal to concede and cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is another source of uncertainty, especially as some Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rally behind Trump’s efforts to fight the election results.
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Benchmark U.S. crude oil gained $1.37 to $42.72 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 2.7% to settle at $41.36 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up $1.32 to $44.93 per barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.