By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening mixed Tuesday, continuing Monday’s divergence in sector performance as markets reprice on the back of Pfizer’s positive news about its Covid-19 virus vaccine.
At 7 AM ET (1200 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 231 points, or 0.8%, while S&P 500 Futures traded largely flat, and Nasdaq 100 Futures were off 169 points, or 1.4%.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 834 points, or 3%, higher, the S&P 500 gained 1.2%, but the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5%. This was the first time in 30 years that the Dow had climbed 3% but the Nasdaq had fallen.
Cyclical stocks led the market advance on Monday after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) announced its experimental vaccine, made in conjunction with German partner Biontech (NASDAQ:BNTX), was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19. These gains are set to continue Tuesday.
Also helping was the news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized emergency use of Eli Lilly's (NYSE:LLY) experimental Covid-19 antibody treatment.
Investors also look set to continue to dump the stocks that had previously benefited strongly during the coronavirus pandemic, such as the tech giants and stay-at-home plays Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).
The U.S. has just topped 10 million cases of Covid-19, just 10 days after reaching the 9 million mark amid a record surge in daily infections and hospitalizations.
“We are still facing restrictions through the winter and infection rates may still rise, but the market can now see an end to the crisis and there should be plenty of stimuli in 2021,” said analysts at Danske Bank, in a research note. “All in all, it seems that 'normality' can reverse back earlier than expected.”
The main economic release Tuesday is the Federal Reserve’s favorite gauge of the employment market, with JOLTs hiring data (job openings and labor turnover) due at 10 AM ET (1400 GMT).
Job growth was stronger than expected in October, with the unemployment rate falling to 6.9%, but some industries are still struggling with bringing employees back to work after business shutdowns.
Oil prices continued to push higher Tuesday, with traders looking to the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly oil inventory estimate, at around 4:30 PM ET, after last week’s report indicated a draw of more than 8 million barrels the previous week.
U.S. crude futures traded 1.1% higher at $40.72 a barrel, after jumping 8.5% the previous session, while the international benchmark Brent contract was up 1.2% at $42.93, after climbing 7.5% higher.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 1.2% to $1,876.05/oz, after falling more than 5% Monday as investors rushed into riskier instruments, like stocks, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.1801.