Wall Street and much of the Financial District stands empty as the coronavirus keeps financial markets and businesses mostly closed on April 20, 2020 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stock futures rose in early morning trading Tuesday as investors remained focused on the reopening of the U.S. economy.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 240 points, implying a Tuesday opening gain of around 173 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures also pointed to a positive Tuesday start for the two indexes.
Investors weighed fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases against efforts to reopen businesses and loosen restrictions. California governor Gavin Newsom said Monday some of the state’s retailers will be allowed to offer curb-side pickup starting Friday.
Meanwhile, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the daily number of hospitalizations and new deaths are declining, suggesting the state is on “the other side of the mountain.” However, he added that officials are not seeing as steep of a decline as they hoped.
The overnight moves followed Monday’s modest gains on Wall Street. The strength in the biggest U.S. technology companies including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Netflix lifted the broad market out of negative territory. The S&P 500 closed the session 0.4% higher, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.2%.
“Megacaps mask underlying rally fragility,” Ken Johnson, investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo, said in a note on Monday. “This concentration raises concerns about the rally’s long-term health and durability as it suggests that ample liquidity, rather than broadly improving fundamentals, may be fueling it.”
On Monday, airline stocks suffered a big sell-off with Delta, United, American Airlines all dropping more than 5%. The decline came after Warren Buffett’s said over the weekend that his Berkshire Hathaway dumped the entirety of its stakes in the sector due to the fallout from the pandemic.
Tensions between China and the U.S. appeared to have flared up again. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said there was “a significant amount of evidence” of the coronavirus originating in a Wuhan lab. President Donald Trump previously said he was considering imposing tariffs on China for its handling of the outbreak.
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