U.S. stock futures were higher in early morning trading Wednesday after stocks dipped in the Tuesday regular session.
Dow futures rose 122 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures also both traded in positive territory.
On Tuesday, the major averages gave back some their sharp gains from Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 143 points, pressured by a 2.6% drop in Intel. The S&P 500 registered a loss of about 0.8%.
The Nasdaq Composite was the relative underperformer, dipping about 1.7% as Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet closed lower.
The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 dropped 1.93%.
“On a day with little major news and ahead of important news soon to come — Fed meeting and the jobs numbers— investors took the opportunity to take some profits from yesterday’s big recovery,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, told CNBC. Tuesday’s “worst performer, technology, was yesterday’s biggest winner.”
The 10-year Treasury yield, watched closely by investors recently, fell to 1.40% on Tuesday. The yield surged to a high of 1.6% last week, raising concern among investors about higher borrowing costs and inflation.
“Overall, buy on the dip is alive and well,” added Paulsen. “Despite a turbulent couple days, the S&P 500 has risen 1.55% so far this week dominated by reopening plays including materials, industrials, financials, and energy with technology being a market performer.”
President Joe Biden said late on Tuesday that the U.S. will have a large enough supply of coronavirus vaccines to vaccinate every adult in the nation by the end of May. That would be two months ahead of schedule. The vaccine rollout is seen as key part in getting Americans back to work and for the economy to recover.
Private payroll data for February is due at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday. This will give investors a read into the labor market. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 225,000 private jobs were added in February, higher than the 174,000 added in January.
Brown-Forman, Dollar Tree and Wendy’s report quarterly earnings before the bell on Wednesday.
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