Futures dip after S&P 500's best day in nine months

[March 02, 2021]  By Shashank Nayar and Medha Singh

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures retreated on Tuesday after Wall Street's strong start to March as investors closely monitored the bond market as well as progress on the next round of fiscal stimulus.

The S&P 500 ended 2.4% higher on Monday, its best day since June as markets cheered approval of a third COVID-19 vaccine in the United States and the U.S. House of Representatives' green light for a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

The U.S. Senate will start debating President Joe Biden's relief bill this week when Democrats aim to pass the legislation through a maneuver known as "reconciliation," which would allow the bill to pass with a simple majority.

At 6:32 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 65 points, or 0.21% and 500 E-minis were down 13 points, or 0.33%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 47.5 points, or 0.36%.

The U.S. bond markets have stabilized since a selloff sent the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield to a one-year high last week, sparking fears over high valuations in the stock market and emerging as a competitive alternative to equities.

Later in the week, investors will focus on ISM's service sector survey as well as the monthly U.S. jobs report to ascertain the economic health.

Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co and Morgan Stanley dipped between 0.3% and 1.1% premarket.

Zoom Video Communications Inc jumped about 10% after the company forecast current-quarter revenue above estimates, as it expects millions of people to continue using its video-conferencing platform.

GameStop and other "meme" stocks AMC Entertainment and Koss shed about 1% and 4.4% after a sharp surge on Monday with no apparent news on the shares.

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

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