Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
Stock futures held steady in overnight trading on Sunday leading up to the final trading week of 2020.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 points. S&P 500 futures gained 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures traded 0.2% higher.
Investors oversaw the status of a $ 900 billion Covid-19 bill, passed by both houses of Congress but not yet signed into law by President Donald Trump. His opposition threatens a government shutdown when funding runs out at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday. Trump has criticized direct payments of $ 600 to Americans, demanding $ 2,000 checks instead.
Trump has turned what is normally one of the slowest weeks of the year into a rather eventful period as investors look to see if the House can lift its defense veto and if he has implied threats to veto on budget / incentive, ”Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said in a note.
Trump tweeted Sunday night that there will be “good news” about the emergency.
Millions of Americans lost increased unemployment benefits when the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program ended overnight.
Wall Street comes from a quiet holiday week in which the large averages showed a flat return. The S&P 500 was down 0.2% last week as some investors shrugged off the chips towards the end of the year. The 30-stock Dow posted a gain of 0.1% over the same period.
Profit taking could increase in the last week of the year, which has delivered surprisingly strong results so far. The S&P 500 has gained 14.6% so far, while the Dow is up 5.8%. The Nasdaq is up 42.7% this year as investors favored fast-growing technology names during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned on Sunday that the country could see a wave of new Covid-19 infections after Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. Two vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna started the distribution process this month. More than a million people in the US have been vaccinated so far.
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