Futures jump as investors hold out for recovery

[May 20, 2020]  By Medha Singh and Ambar Warrick

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures climbed on Wednesday as investors clung to hopes of a recovery from a looming coronavirus-fuelled recession amid signs of more central bank and government stimulus for ailing sectors.

Home improvement chain Lowe's Cos Inc jumped 8.4% in premarket trade after becoming the latest retailer to report an upbeat quarterly same-store sales.

A Wall Street rally from April has lost steam this month as investors weigh hopes of a revival in business activity amid easing lockdowns against conflicting reports about progress in developing a potential coronavirus vaccine.

The U.S. stock market moved sharply lower in the final hour of Tuesday's session after a report raised doubts about Moderna Inc's recent coronavirus vaccine early-stage trial results.

"With headlines suggesting that more fiscal and monetary stimulus around the globe is under way and with the virus curve being much flatter than a couple of months ago, we would treat yesterday's setback as a corrective move," said Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the government and the central bank were considering additional measures to ensure the worst stricken areas of the economy received adequate support.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in the financial district of lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, New York, U.S., April 13, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

At 6:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 287 points, or 1.19%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 32.5 points, or 1.11% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 97.25 points, or 1.05%.

SPDR S&P 500 ETFs were up 1.19%.

The heavyweight FAANGs group - Facebook Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Apple, Netflix Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc - rose between 0.9% and 2.6% in early trading.

Big Wall Street banks including Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co gained about 2%.

(Reporting by Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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