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* Futures rise: Dow 1.19%, S&P 1.11%, Nasdaq 1.05%
By Medha Singh and Ambar Warrick
May 20 (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 LOW.N 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 MRNA.O 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.
At 6:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 287 points, or
1.19%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 32.5 points, or 1.11% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 97.25 points, or 1.05%.
SPDR S&P 500 ETFs SPY.P were up 1.19%.
The heavyweight FAANGs group - Facebook Inc FB.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Apple AAPL.O , Netflix Inc NFLX.O
and Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O - rose between 0.9% and
2.6% in early trading.
Big Wall Street banks including Bank of America Corp
BAC.N , Citigroup Inc C.N , JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N gained
about 2%.