Futures near record highs as Biden to take office; Netflix soars

[January 20, 2021] By Devik Jain and Medha Singh

(Reuters) - U.S. stock futures neared record highs on Wednesday, as Joe Biden prepared to take charge as U.S. President at his inauguration, while Netflix soared after saying it will no longer need to borrow billions of dollars to finance its TV shows and movies.

A Wall Street sign is pictured outside the New York Stock Exchange in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

Shares of the world's largest streaming service surged 13% in premarket trading, helping boost futures tracking the broader tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index.

Wall Street's main indexes ended higher on Tuesday after Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen urged lawmakers to "act big" to save the coronavirus-ravaged U.S. economy and worry about debt later.

Biden, due to take over as the 46th President of the United States just after noon (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, will waste little time trying to turn the page on the Trump era, advisers said, signing a raft of 15 executive actions on issues ranging from the pandemic to the economy to climate change.

At 06:59 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 33 points, or 0.11% and S&P 500 E-minis were up 12.5 points, or 0.33%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 104.5 points, or 0.8%.

Morgan Stanley climbed 1.7% ahead of its results that would wrap up earnings from major U.S. lenders.

UnitedHealth Group Inc slid 0.3% after the health insurer's quarterly profit slumped nearly 38%, weighed by costs related to its programs to make COVID-19 testing and treatment more accessible for its customers.

S&P 500 company earnings are expected to rise by 24% in 2021 after falling 15% in 2020, according to Refinitiv data. With stock market valuations sitting close to a 20-year high, investors are hoping corporate results and profit outlooks will help them determine to what degree the valuations are justified.

Boeing Co added 1% after Berenberg upgraded the stock to "hold" from "sell", saying the worst has passed and believes restarting of 737 MAX aircraft deliveries in December marked a turning point towards planemaker's financial recovery.

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)

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