U.S. stock-index futures were nursing slight gains on Friday morning as the stock market attempted to halt a three day losing streak for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.
For the week, the Dow is aiming for a weekly gain of about 0.1%, the S&P 500 is on track for a 0.5% weekly decline, while the Nasdaq is on pace for a 1.6% weekly skid, based on Thursday’s close. Market participants have been expecting further government spending to help mitigate the economic damage from the COVID pandemic, with ongoing negotiations in Congress on the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion aid package.
There are also growing expectations that the coronavirus vaccine rollout will bolster economic recovery in the second half of 2021. Supporting that notion is a research report out of Israel that finds that single shot of Pfizer PFE, -0.95% and BioNTech SE’s BNTX, -0.80% COVID vaccine was showing 85% effective in preventing symptomatic disease 15 to 28 days after being administered.
“Market moves of late-and particularly in the last week-sent a clear story of optimism about the US economy,” wrote BofA Global Research analysts, led by U.S. economist, Michelle Meyer, in a research note dated Friday.
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