Futures rise for third day in a row

[December 07, 2016]  By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose for the third straight day, as investors continued to bet on a post-election rally that has powered major Wall Street indexes to a series of record highs.

President-elect Donald Trump's proposals to boost infrastructure spending and simplify regulations have boosted financials and industrial stocks since the election on Nov.8.

Dow futures have marked losses only four times and have risen 6.9 percent over the past month.

A spate of strong economic data and robust third-quarter earnings that put an end to a profit recession have also supported the rally.

Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday, with the Dow closing at a record high, buoyed by gains in banks and telecom stocks AT&T <T.N> and Verizon <VZ.N>.

While an interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve's meeting next week is a foregone conclusion with traders pricing in a whopping 92 percent chance of an increase, investors are on the lookout for how the central bank views Trump's pro-growth policies and whether that could lead to more aggressive rate hikes next year.

The Fed has entered a self-imposed blackout period until its news conference on Dec.14.

Among stocks, Western Digital rose 5.4 percent to $67.30 in light premarket trading after the data storage maker raised its second-quarter profit and revenue forecasts.

Bluebird Bio fell 2.5 percent to $77 after the drugmaker priced a stock offering at a 3.7 percent discount to the stock's Tuesday close.

Restaurant and arcade chain operator Dave & Buster's soared 13.5 percent to $54.50 after the company posted upbeat results for its latest quarter and raised its full-year revenue forecast.

No key economic data is scheduled for Wednesday.

Futures snapshot at 6:57 a.m. ET (1157 GMT):

Dow e-minis  were up 17 points, or 0.09 percent, with 15,752 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 points, or 0.05 percent, with 94,485 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.04 percent, on volume of 8,264 contracts.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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