U.S. Futures Higher; Infrastructure Stimulus Helps Sentiment By Investing.com

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com – U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Thursday, starting a new quarter on a positive note as investors digest the Biden administration’s tax and spending plans.

At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 3 points, largely flat, S&P 500 Futures traded 10 points, or 0.3%, higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 115 points, or 0.9%.

President Joe Biden outlined his $2 trillion infrastructure plan on Wednesday, including proposals to modernize 20,000 miles of roadway, fix 10,000 bridges and install 500,000 electric-vehicle charging stations.

While it’s not clear this plan will clear Congress in its present form, given likely opposition from Republicans to the increases in corporate taxes to pay for it, this fresh round of stimulus should give certain sectors another push higher, with the energy, materials and transportation sectors in particular focus. 

It also marks the second major spending push of Biden’s presidency after he approved a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package in early March.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 6% in March, the broad-based S&P 500 index over 4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite underperformed, gaining just 0.4%, pressured by rising interest rates. 

It’s a busy day for economic data. Weekly initial jobless claims are due at 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT), and are expected to have edged down to 680,000 last week, from the previous week’s post-pandemic low of 684,000, continuing the recovery in the labor market

The Institute of Supply Management business survey for March is also due later, and follows strong manufacturing numbers from both the euro zone and the U.K.

In the corporate sector, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) is likely to be in focus, as well as semiconductors as a whole, after the company reported strong earnings and guidance after the bell on Wednesday. 

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) confirmed that a batch of a key vaccine ingredient didn’t meet quality control standards, potentially resulting in the scrapping of up to 15 million vaccine doses. 

Oil prices pushed higher Thursday on expectations that a group of top producers will agree to largely maintain output curbs into May at a meeting later in the session given the surge of Covid-19 cases in many regions.

Reuters reported that the meeting is set to discuss two options: one would be to freeze output at current levels, and another to raise it by 500,000 barrels a day – still a small increase given the top producers are currently reining in output by around 8 million barrels a day.

U.S. crude futures traded 1.2% higher at $59.89 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 1% to $63.36. 

Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,711.95/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1734.