Stock futures rise ahead of Biden inauguration day

Equity futures rose on Tuesday night, extending earlier advances as investors anticipated the first actions of the new Biden administration.

Dow contracts added more than 50 points, or 0.2%, at the start of the overnight session. Shares of Netflix (NFLX) climbed 12% late in the session after the company added more users than expected in the fourth quarter and surpassed 200 million paying subscribers for the first time.

On Wednesday, all eyes will be on President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, which will take place on the West Front of the Capitol around noon as part of a scaled-down and socially distant event.

In his first few hours in office, Biden is set to immediately begin signing management actions to address the pandemic, the virus-hit economy, climate change and racial fairness, according to a weekend memo. -end of the new White House chief of staff, Ron Klain.

Additionally, Biden is set to quickly start pushing for more humanitarian aid against viruses in the economy, after unveiling a $ 1.9 trillion proposal last week that would include increased controls. stimulus, extended unemployment benefits and support to state and local governments, among other measures.

Janet Yellen, Biden’s candidate for Secretary of the Treasury, pleaded for significant additional spending on coronavirus relief during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, and added that she would work with the Biden administration on its other priorities, including increasing investment in infrastructure, enacting environmental protection legislation and possible tax reforms.

Still, his talks about the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package have received some pushback from Republican lawmakers, many of whom have been hesitant to pass another major package that they say may not be sufficiently targeted to provide support only to those who need it most.

The human and economic toll of the virus became even more evident on Tuesday, as the United States crossed the grim milestone of 400,000 coronavirus-related deaths for the first time. Deaths and hospitalizations have increased over the past week, as the post-vacation peak emerges with full force.

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But even given the current spread of the virus, traders have firmly set their sights on the future, awaiting the acceleration of the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine and the economic reopening that is expected to take place in its wake.

“The markets are looking to the future, so it’s not exactly about the immediate increase in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations. It’s more about what the economy will look like later this year, ”Ryan Payne, president of Payne Capital Management, told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday. “And I think when you start to look [the fact that] you have a new president, you have a democratic majority in both the house and the senate, the only thing i think we can bet on here is that we are going to see a lot of spending from this project $ 1.9 trillion law they are trying. to adopt, on top of the $ 3 trillion we already passed last year plus the $ 900 billion we already passed in December, and we might see an infrastructure deal going forward, which will be another ticket of several billion dollars.

“We’re just looking at so much liquidity out there, and I think what the market is telling you right now – you start to see interest rates go up, you start to see commodity prices go up – that the inflation is a real thing and printing all that money is definitely going to cause inflation as we expect later in the year, ”he added.

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6:06 p.m. ET Tuesday: Stock futures rise, extending past gains

Here are the main moves in the markets, at 6:06 p.m. ET Tuesday:

• S&P 500 Futures (ES = F): 3,799.5, up 9 points or 0.24%

• Dow Futures (YM = F): 30,878.00, up 50 points or 0.16%

• Future Nasdaq (NQ = F): 13,044.25, up 58.75 points or 0.45%

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