US stock futures climbed Wednesday ahead of US inflation data suggesting major indices will resume this month’s rally.
Futures pegged to the S&P 500 were up 0.4%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.3%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 were up 0.5%. Both the S&P 500 and Dow closed lower on Tuesday after hitting record highs earlier in the week.
Shares are up higher this month, with the benchmark S&P 500 setting its eighth year-end record Monday. Investors are betting that President Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion stimulus package will help bolster the economy, while vaccinations will help reduce the number of Covid-19 fatalities. Investor sentiment was also supported by the quarterly results of companies which turned out to be largely better than expected.
“As long as earnings expectations rise, stocks will go up,” said Andrew Slimmon, general manager and portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. “The magnitude of the income reports we’ve seen is so great because the earnings have been much underestimated.”
In out-of-hours trading, the Lyft company was up 12% after posting a smaller annual loss, suggesting the company is on a path to profitability. Twitter rose 3.5% after the social media company said it added users during the holiday season. Cisco Systems was down 5.4% after it said sales and profits were down in the second quarter.