Stock futures gain as Electoral College certifies Biden victory

U.S. stock futures traded higher across the board after the U.S. Congress early Thursday certified the Electoral College vote that gave Democrat Joe Biden his presidential victory -- after a day in Washington that was marred by pro-Trump protesters storming the U.S. Capitol.Wednesday's unprecedented storm on Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protestors.

 

All three of the major averages registered gains of more than 0.3%..

BIDEN’S ELECTORAL COLLEGE VICTORY CERTIFIED -- HOURS AFTER CAPITOL CHAOS

CEOs including JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon and the Business Roundtable, a consortium of Fortune 500 CEOs chaired by Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, condemned the violence.

In the upcoming Thursday Wall Street session, investors will get the second labor-related economic report of the week. Initial jobless claims for last week are expected to increase by 13,000 to 800,000. Continuing claims, which track the total number of unemployed workers collecting benefits, are anticipated to fall slightly to 5.2 million, which would be the lowest since March 21.

At the same time the Commerce Department will report the U.S. trade balance for November. The deficit is expected to widen to $65.2 billion from $63.1 billion in October.

Finally, we’ll get the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing PMI for December. Expansion in the services sector is expected to cool slightly to 54.6 from 55.9 in November (any reading above 50 indicates expansion). Recall that on Tuesday we learned that manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded for the seventh straight month in December at the fastest pace in more than two years.

In Europe, London's FTSE slipped 0.4%, Germany's DAX added 0.4% and France's CAC rose 0.2%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei gained 1.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.5% and China's Shanghai Composite added 0.7%.

JPMORGAN CEO JAMIE DIMON CONDEMNS VIOLENCE

Gains in the U.S. extended session followed what was a positive session for the broader markets with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a fresh record, while the S&P inched ahead with gains despite the Democratic sweep in Georgia.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	44722.06	-138.25	-0.31%
SP500	S&P 500	5998.74	-22.89	-0.38%

However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell in choppy trading on investor concerns a Democratic Congress will ramp up scrutiny of big tech. These stocks were rebounding in the extended session.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:COMP	NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX	19060.475899	-115.10	-0.60%

In energy markets, U.S. crude added 20 cents to $50.85. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 10 cents to $54.20.

*This is a developing story.