Stock futures jump on J&J vaccine cheer, stimulus optimism

[March 01, 2021]  By Medha Singh

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures jumped more than 1% on Monday as Johnson & Johnson's newly approved COVID-19 vaccine and progress in a new $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package fueled optimism over a swift economic recovery.

Shares of cruise liner and hotel operators, and carriers including Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd Hilton, Delta Air Lines Inc and American Airlines gained between 1% and 5% premarket.

Johnson & Johnson began shipping its single-dose shot vaccine after it became the third authorized COVID-19 vaccine in the United States over the weekend.

President Joe Biden scored his first legislative win as the House of Representatives passed his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday. The bill now moves to the Senate.

Sectors that stand to benefit more from an economic rebound outperformed, with Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co jumping between 1.3% and 2.2%, and energy firms Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp between 1.6% and 3.5%.

Wall Street's main indexes ended lower last week, with the Nasdaq suffering its worst week in four months, as a rise in long-dormant yields signaled bonds are more serious investment competition, sparking a pullback in high-valuation tech stocks.

Apple, Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc rebounded between 1.3% and 2.3% on Monday.

At 06:03 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 318 points, or 1.03% and S&P 500 E-minis were up 42.25 points, or 1.11%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 186.75 points, or 1.45%.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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