US open: Stocks open higher despite multiple states reporting record numbers of new infections

Wall Street stocks opened higher on Monday despite the US seeing an accelerated number of new Covid-19 infections in several states.

As of 1525 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.27% at 25,942.25, while the S&P 500 was 0.28% stronger at 3,106.41 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.41% firmer at 9,987.12.

The Dow opened 70.79 points higher on Monday, putting the index on track to snap a three-day losing streak started last week.

Stocks were slightly higher at the bell on Monday despite the US reporting more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the country's largest single-day increase since 1 May.

Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona all reported record single-day infection numbers and a total of 24 states showed an increasing trend in cases over the last week.

However, despite the heightened volume of new cases New York City will permit firms to reopen offices from today following a three-month lockdown across the financial centre.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed that while the White House was preparing for a second wave, it wasn't actually expecting one to hit.

"We don't necessarily expect a second wave but prudence dictates that we plan for it. There is no contradiction," he said on Sunday.

Tech stocks like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Netflix helped keep the Nasdaq in the green early on.

Oanda's Edward Moya said: "US stocks are mixed in early trade but seem poised to struggle to break past some key technical barriers as the reopening of the economy is being met with a surge of new coronavirus cases.

"While the number of new Covid-19 cases is noticeably higher in the southeast regions, that is being attributed to reopening before seeing their cases come down to low levels. Despite the surge in new cases, risk appetite is holding up because confidence is higher with how doctors can treat the virus and now that the virus is working its way through younger individuals. If the seven states that hit record highs with daily cases continues to grow exponentially, that should start to weigh on risk appetite."

On the macro front, the Chicago Fed's national activity index came in at 2.61 in May, up from a reading of -17.89 a month earlier, while the three-month moving average moved up to -6.65 from -7.5 in April.

Elsewhere, existing home sales plummeted in May, according to the National Association of Realtors, with the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to batter the US economy.

Sales of existing homes fell 9.7% in May to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 3.91m units, while sales were down 26.6% year-on-year to record the largest annual decline since 1982 and the slowest sales pace since October 2010.

Still to come, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis head Neel Kashkari will deliver a speech at 2330 BST.

In the corporate space, American Airlines shares were down 5.5% in early trading after announcing it was looking to raise up to $3.5bn in new financing as part of an effort to help it weather the Covid-19 storm, while Walmart shares were up 0.94% at the bell after an upgrade by analysts at UBS.