Here are the top news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Wall Street seems to be booking another positive week
Traders on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Source: The New York Stock Exchange
US stock futures fell on Friday, a day after a mixed session in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly from its previous all-time high, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new all-time highs. All three equity benchmarks followed for their second consecutive positive week, in line with the strength of February. So far, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 4.8%, 5.4% and 7.3% respectively this month. The Dow and S&P 500 broke two-month earnings marks in January, while the Nasdaq rose for the fourth straight month in January.
2. Booming Disney + helps to compensate for the collapse of theme parks
Bob Chapek, CEO of the Walt Disney Company and former head of Walt Disney Parks and Experiences, speaks at a media preview of D23 Expo 2019 in Anaheim, California, August 22, 2019.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Shares of Disney were up about 2% in premarket trading after the company reported a first-quarter adjusted fiscal profit of 32 cents a share. Analysts had expected a loss of 41 cents per share. Revenue fell 22% to $ 16.25 billion from a year earlier, although it exceeded estimates. Thanks to Covid, Disney saw a drop in theme park visitors and box office results, but the success of its streaming video service continued. Disney + added more than 21 million subscribers during the quarter, for a total of 94.9 million.
3. White House to address travel, education concerns
A traveler wearing a face mask is seen at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, United States, Feb. 2, 2021.
Ting Shen | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
According to Reuters, the CEOs of major airlines will meet with the Covid-19 White House response coordinator almost Friday to discuss travel-related issues. The meeting comes as airlines, unions and industry groups strongly object to the possibility of requiring Covid pre-departure tests for domestic flights.
A third class on the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Southeast Washington, DC, February 5, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein | The Washington Post | Getty Images
The CDC plans to issue new guidelines on Friday on how to safely reopen American schools. The pressure to reopen or expand personal learning has been mounting for months as students and parents tire of remote classes. Reopening schools is a top priority for Biden’s administration.
4. US secures 200 million additional doses of Covid vaccine
President Joe Biden speaks on a visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, Feb. 11, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The White House struck deals for 100 million additional doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and 100 million more from Moderna. During Thursday’s tour of the National Institutes of Health, President Joe Biden said the US will now have enough supplies of the dual vaccines to inoculate 300 million Americans by the end of July. Biden is trying to ramp up the pace of vaccinations after a slower-than-expected rollout under former President Donald Trump. According to the CDC, about 34.7 million of the approximately 331 million Americans have received at least their first dose of the vaccine.
5. It is the turn of the defense at the Trump impeachment process
Members of former President Donald Trump’s defense team, David Schoen, center left, Michael van der Veen, center, and Bruce Castor, center right, arrive at the Capitol for the start of day three of the impeachment process in the Senate on Thursday, February . 11, 2021.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Defense attorneys at Trump’s impeachment process will begin to defend their arguments as to why the former president should not be convicted of instigating last month’s deadly attack on the US Capitol. They are willing to admit that the violence was just as traumatic, unacceptable and illegal as the Democratic prosecutors described. But they also plan to argue that Trump has nothing to do with it. The argument will likely appeal to Republican senators who want to be seen as people condemning the violence without condemning the former president.
– Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow CNBC’s blogs about the markets, pandemic and Trump impeachment process.