US pre-open: Wall Street set for higher open led by gains in tech space
Equity futures on Wall Street are pointing higher with investor appetite supported by expectations for further economic stimulus and more positive updates regarding the speed at which vaccines are being rolled out, mainly in developed countries.
"Vaccine rollouts have been messy, but as more vaccines get regional approval, risk appetite is thriving as we get closer to the other side of COVID," said Edward Moya at Oanda.
"If inflation rises too fast that could pose a problem, but we are still nowhere near that and tomorrow’s CPI data should ease concerns."
Against that backdrop, as of 1220 GMT futures on the Dow Jones Industrial were 77 points higher to 30,979.0, alongside a 11.25 point gain for those on the S&P 500 to 3,803.25 while futures for the Nasdaq-100 were climbing by 49.5 points to 12,946.5.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note were also up, by two basis points to 1.16%.
Mergers and acquisitions activity was still making the headlines as medical supplies outfit Steris unveiled a takeover bid for rival Cantel Medical for $4.6bn, including debt.
Banks were expected find a bid early on after Citi upgraded its recommendation on shares of Bank of New York Mellon and PNC Financial to 'neutral'.
Back on the health front, concerned with what some were labelling as too slow a roll-out of vaccine, the outgoing Trump administration was set to encourage was reportedly set to encourage state officials to broaden access to vaccine to all Americans over 65 years of age, Axios reported.
On the economic side of things, the National Federation of Independent Business's index of small business confidence fell to 95.9 in December from 101.4 for the month before, well below the consensus, 100.3.
Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics put the drop down chiefly to Donald Trump's election defeat.