Stock futures jump after Senate approves tax bill

[December 04, 2017]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to a solid open for Wall Street on Monday after the U.S. Senate passed its version of a tax overhaul bill, bringing closer to reality President Donald Trump's promise of cutting corporate taxes to spur growth.

Dow futures gained more than 200 points, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were up half a percent.

Some of the early gainers included bank and industrial stocks. Bank of America and JPMorgan rose more than 2 percent, while Caterpillar and Boeing gained more than 1.5 percent.

The S&P 500 has risen about 18 percent this year on strong corporate earnings and solid economic growth and also on hopes that Trump's agenda of corporate tax cuts and looser regulations could come through.

The Senate on Saturday approved their version of tax bill in a narrow 51-49 vote. The Senate and House of Representatives will reconcile their respective versions before it becomes a law.

In the year's largest corporate acquisition, drugstore chain operator CVS Health agreed to buy health insurer Aetna for $69 billion. Aetna shares were up 2.5 percent in premarket trading, while CVS shares dipped about 2 percent.

General Cable jumped 36 percent after Italian rival Prysmian agreed to buy the cable maker, valuing the company at about $3 billion, including debt.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Blue Apron rose 6.8 percent after Barclays upgraded the meal-kit delivery company's stock to "equal-weight", supporting its move to promote its chief financial officer as the chief executive.

Wall Street indexes ended lower on Friday amid concerns over developments in a probe into Russia's alleged involvement in the U.S. presidential election.

The Commerce Department is set to release factory orders data for October, which is expected to show a 0.4 percent decline, compared to a rise of 1.4 percent in the previous month. The data is due at 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT).

Futures snapshot at 6:58 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis were up 222 points, or 0.92 percent, with 32,658 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 16.5 points, or 0.62 percent, with 197,440 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 30.25 points, or 0.48 percent, on volume of 34,591 contracts.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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