© Reuters.
By Peter Nurse
Investing.com – U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Tuesday, continuing November’s record-breaking gains, helped by the expected prompt delivery of Covid-19 vaccines and signs of a global economic recovery.
At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract rose 330 points, or 1.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 36 points, or 1%, higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 91 points, or 0.8%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended November almost 12% higher on the month, its best individual month since January 1987. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both gained around 11%.
Earlier Tuesday, American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and German partner BioNtech, announced that they have applied to European authorities for authorization to rollout their Covid-19 vaccine. This follows similar moves in the U.S. and the U.K.
This adds to Monday’s positive news from Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), with the biotech firm stating it was applying for U.S. and European emergency authorization for its vaccine candidate after full results from a late-stage study showed it was effective, with no serious safety concerns.
The outlook for the global economy is improving as vaccines emerge, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its latest report, raising its view on growth this year to a contraction of 4.2%, from a drop of 4.5% at its last report in September.
Still, the second wave of the Covid-19 virus remains in focus, with hospitals coming close to being dangerously overloaded in populous states like New York and California as cases continue to rise.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will speak with Congress late Tuesday. Powell called the U.S. economic outlook “extraordinarily uncertain”, in prepared remarks ahead of his testimony.
The economic slate sees the release of the ISM manufacturing PMI number for November, after the European manufacturing sector held up fractionally better than expected.
In corporate news, Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) reports earnings, but eyes will be likely to be on Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) after its stock fell sharply in after-hours trading and on Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), which announced a massive $20 billion writedown on Monday.
Oil prices edged lower Tuesday, as Reuters reported that the OPEC+ meeting to discuss production levels has been delayed until Thursday after Russia and the United Arab Emirates proposed a 500,000 barrels a day increase.
The group has been expected to maintain the current cap on supply, rather than raising by 2 million barrels a day in January as previously agreed, given the current weak overall demand.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $45.23 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.1% to $47.84. Both benchmarks surged by 27% in November, boosted by hopes for three promising coronavirus vaccines.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 1.6% to $1,809.60/oz, after dropping almost 6% in November, its worst month in four years, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% higher at 1.1968.
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