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China said it would stop requiring inbound travelers to go into
quarantine starting Jan. 8, a major step in reopening its
borders, adding that it would also downgrade the seriousness of
COVID as it has become less virulent.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms such as JD.Com Inc, Alibaba
Group Holding, Pinduoduo Inc climbed between 2.5% and 3% in
premarket trading.
With a handful of trading sessions left this year, investors are
hoping for a so-called "Santa rally" at the end of what has been
a largely disappointing month for U.S. equities.
The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq have lost 5.8%
and 8.5%, respectively, so far in December and are on track for
their biggest yearly loss since the financial crisis of 2008 on
fears that the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy
tightening could tip the U.S. economy into a recession.
Economic data so far has offered little hope that the Fed could
hit the brakes on its interest rate hikes, with a report last
week showing inflation has cooled further but not enough to
discourage the U.S. central bank from driving rates to higher
levels next year.
Money markets are pricing in 63% odds of a 25-basis-point
interest rate hike at the Fed's next meeting in February and see
rates peaking at 4.93% in May 2023..
Trading volumes remain thin as investors return from a long
weekend, while the economic data schedule is also light this
week with some home sales and jobs reports on tap.
At 6:18 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 208 points, or 0.62%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 25 points, or 0.65%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis
were up 62.5 points, or 0.56%.
Shares of Tesla fell 2.0% premarket after Reuters reported the
electric vehicle maker plans to run a reduced production
schedule at its Shanghai plant in January.
Southwest Airlines Co dipped 3% after facing flight
cancellations and delays a day after Christmas.
(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
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