Wall Street futures rise on approval of plasma treatment
for COVID-19 patients
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[August 24, 2020] By
Medha Singh
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose
on Monday as the country's top drug regulator's approval for emergency
use of antibody-rich blood plasma on COVID-19 patients lifted treatment
hopes and spurred bets of a quicker economic recovery.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's move to use plasma from
recovered patients was hailed by President Donald Trump and came a day
after he accused it of impeding the rollout of treatments for political
reasons.
Further aiding market sentiment, was a report that the Trump
administration is considering fast-tracking an experimental COVID-19
vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc <AZN.L> and Oxford University
for use in the United States before election.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Aug/24/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
The news comes on the eve of the Republican National Convention, where
Trump will be nominated to lead his party for four more years, kicking
off the final sprint to Nov. 3 Election Day.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record levels on Friday, wrapping up
four weeks of gains on bets that technology focused companies will
emerge stronger from the pandemic and the economy will return to growth
on continued monetary and fiscal support.
The Dow, however, is still about 6% below its February peak.
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The 11 Wall St. door of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen
in New York City, New York, U.S., June 26, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan
McDermid
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Meanwhile, the next phase of coronavirus government aid remained elusive as top
Democrats and Republicans continued to blame each other for stalled talks on the
legislation.
A key event this week would be the address by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome
Powell at the Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole symposium, where he will talk on the
monetary policy framework review.
At 6:16 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMcv1> were up 241 points, or 0.87%, S&P 500
e-minis <EScv1> were up 25 points, or 0.74% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQcv1> were
up 99 points, or 0.86%.
Among stocks, Apple Inc <AAPL.O> gained another 1.8% premarket and was on track
to open above $500 per share for the first time. The iPhone maker became the
first public U.S. company to cross $2 trillion in market value last week.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru;Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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