Stock futures higher as vaccine hopes rise, trade fears deescalate

Stock futures increased Tuesday morning, following global equities higher as hopes for a coronavirus vaccine rose and U.S.-China trade fears dissipated.

French drugmaker Sanofi (SNY, SNYNF) said on Tuesday that it anticipates it will receive approval for its potential Covid-19 vaccine it is creating with GlaxoSmithKline in the first half of 2021, which if successful would then be available in the second half of next year. While there are currently no vaccines to prevent the coronavirus, a host of pharmaceutical companies have entered the race to try and develop medicines to prevent and treat the virus.

Late Friday evening, stock futures declined sharply but then turned positive after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said during a Fox News interview that any trade deal with China was “over,” then walked back the remark and clarified that the Phase 1 trade deal “continues in place” in subsequent statements to media.

President Donald Trump added in a Twitter post Monday evening that the China trade deal “is fully intact.”

Global equities slid after Navarro’s earlier interview with Fox News, with Dow futures plunging more than 400 points before recovering. Stock futures had traded little changed to slightly higher earlier in the overnight session.

Big tech stocks fell were mixed in overnight trading after outperforming during the regular session, with both the Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 ending at record high levels. Each of Netflix, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook hit record closing highs, along with Zoom Video Communications, Nvidia and PayPal. Apple’s rise coincided with the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), during which the iPhone-maker announced it would be pivoting away from its 15-year partnership with Intel to make its own processors for its Mac devices.

Travel and leisure stocks including airlines and cruise lines reversed declines in pre-market trading after coronavirus cases rose further in some geographies, stoking fears that reopening processes would get crimped. Texas hospitalizations rose by a record based on Monday’s counts, and Governor Greg Abbott said the outbreak was growing at an “unacceptable rate” and warned he would tighten restrictions on social distancing if the outbreak escalates further. Overall cases in Florida rose again Monday to top 100,000.

“This reopening process, it’s pretty important, and we need to see some consumer confidence building because if all of us are sitting in our homes in September or October because we think we’re going to catch the virus, the equity market is not going to like that,” Scott Wren, Wells Fargo Investment Institute senior global equity strategist, told Yahoo Finance’s The Ticker. “We think the bulk of this rally is over for the year. We think we’re going to see a bunch of range trading really between now and the end of the year, finishing a little bit higher than this.”

“To get there and to sustain these kinds of levels you need to see good medical news, you need to see some good economic news too, or at least better than expected economic news,” he added.

Other strategists also anticipated just modest more upside for the S&P 500. Jonathan Golub, Credit Suisse chief equity strategist, on Monday raised his year-end price target for the S&P 500 to 3,200, from the 2,700 the firm saw previously, to represent a 2.6% gain from Monday’s closing prices.

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7:32 a.m. ET Tuesday: Stock futures rise on vaccine hopes, waning U.S.-China trade fears

Here were the main moves in markets, as of 7:32 a.m. ET Tuesday morning:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,136.25, up 25.5 points or 0.82%

• Dow futures (YM=F): 26,198.00, up 245 points, or 0.94%

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 10,196.25, up 71.5 points, or 0.71%

• Crude (CL=F): +$0.77 (+1.89%) to $41.50 a barrel

• Gold (GC=F): +$3.30 (+0.19%) to $1,769.70 per ounce

• 10-year Treasury (^TNX): +2.3 bps to yield 0.727%

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10:33 p.m. ET Monday: Stocks turn positive after officials clarify China trade remarks

Here’s where futures were trading as of 10:33 p.m. ET:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,114.00, up 3.25 points or 0.1%

• Dow futures (YM=F): 25,972.00, up 19 points, or 0.07%

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 10,123.5, up 1.25 points, or 0.01%

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10:24 p.m. ET: Trump says China trade deal ‘fully intact’

President Donald Trump said in a Twitter post Monday evening that the China trade deal remains “fully intact.”

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10:22 p.m. ET: Navarro says China Phase 1 trade deal ‘continues in place,’ according to statement to Bloomberg

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said in a statement to Bloomberg News Monday evening that his Fox News comments were taken “wildly out of context.”

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