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Lifting sentiment was Britain's approval of the emergency use of
AstraZeneca and Oxford University's COVID-19 vaccine after the
main U.S. indexes slipped from intraday record highs on Tuesday
on uncertainty over bigger stimulus checks.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a quick vote to
back President Donald Trump's call to increase COVID-19 relief
checks to $2,000 from $600 on Tuesday.
"The market is of the view that U.S. households will receive
additional support a few months down the line even if the
government decides to pull back higher stimulus checks," said
Piotr Matys, FX strategist at Rabobank.
At 07:04 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 91 points, or 0.3%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 13.25 points, or 0.36%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were up 49 points, or 0.38%.
Meanwhile, the first known U.S. case of a highly infectious
coronavirus variant discovered in Britain was detected in
Colorado. Scientists believe the new variant is more contagious
than previously identified strains of the SAR-CoV-2 variant but
no more severe in the symptoms it causes.
To date, the pandemic has infected more than 19 million people
and killed over 334,000 in the United States.
Trading is expected to remain light in the holiday-shortened
week, which could boost volatility in the market.
The benchmark S&P 500 index, which has bounced back nearly 70%
from its late-March trough, is on course to end the month with a
3% gain after a 10.8% rally in November.
Technology mega-caps such as Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc
powered much of this year's gains but have taken a backseat in
recent weeks as investors shifted to economically-sensitive
sectors on cheaper valuations and hopes of an eventual recovery.
(Reporting by Devik Jain, Supriya R and Shashank Nayar in
Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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