Investing.com - Wall Street futures point to a higher open on Monday with the Dow Jones futures jumping more than 200 points as fears of the U.K. voting to leave the European Union (EU), known as a Brexit, seemed to fade at the beginning of the week.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 208 points, or 1.18%, by 11:55AM GMT, or 6:55AM ET, the S&P 500 futures rose 28 points, or 1.35%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 56 points, or 1.29%.
With no major U.S. data on Monday’s calendar, market participants were focused on the upcoming vote on membership in the EU that will take place this Thursday, June 23, with final results released on Friday, June 24.
Two opinion polls published on Saturday showed that support for the 'Remain' campaign had regained its lead over a vote to leave, while a third showed momentum shifting in favor of a vote to stay in the 28-member bloc.
The probability of a "Remain" vote implied by Betfair betting odds rose to 72 percent on Monday, up from a range between 60 and 67 percent on Friday.
Sayeeda Warsi, a former minister and co-chair of the ruling Conservative Party, also announced that she had changed her mind and would back the vote to say.
The shift in “Remain” support boosted the pound and revived risk sentiment, which had been hard hit by fears that a vote to leave the EU would cause turmoil in global financial markets.
Though volatility was expected in the run-up to the vote, markets showed a “risk-on” attitude on Monday.
European stock markets were broadly higher, with Germany’s DAX up 3.5% and London FTSE100 gaining 3.1%; while Asian stocks had also gained across the board.
Oil prices rose sharply on Monday, with Brent futures climbing back above the $50-level.
Demand for safe-haven assets decreased with gold futures retreating further from last week’s 22-month high, while the improvement in market sentiment also pushed down the dollar.
10-year bond yields bounced back from record lows hit last week in the case of British, German and Japanese sovereign debt, while the U.S. Treasury yields also pulled back from a four-year low reached last Thursday.
Stateside, investors looked ahead to a speech from Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari who will give opening remarks at a forum on the financial sector and “to big to fail”.
In company news, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) sold a piece of Silicon Valley real estate for $250 million, according to a report from the Silicon Valley Business Journal.