U.S. stock futures climbed, offering investors a reprieve from a recent stretch of whipsaw trading that had sent stocks and cryptocurrencies falling.
Futures for the S&P 500 gained 1.87% Tuesday, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.69%. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 jumped 1.90%. The U.S. stock market was closed Monday for the Juneteenth federal holiday.
Bitcoin rose alongside other cryptocurrencies, continuing to claw back recent losses after a bruising weekend. Bitcoin recently traded at about $21,070, up 3% from its 5 p.m. ET value Monday, and about 20% higher from a recent low of $17,601.58 reached Saturday, according to CoinDesk data.
Investors’ appetite for riskier assets on Tuesday follows a tumultuous week in the markets, sparked by the Federal Reserve’s approval of a 0.75-percentage-point interest-rate increase, the largest since 1994. That sent investors scrambling to unload riskier assets amid growing fears that central bankers will plunge the U.S. economy into a recession. The benchmark S&P 500 finished the week 5.8% lower, its largest one-week decline in more than two years.
Government leaders and officials in recent days have tried to assuage an increasingly jittery nation that an economic slowdown isn’t guaranteed as central bankers work to tame decades-high inflation. President Biden on Monday said he spoke with Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary, and reiterated that he doesn’t see a recession as inevitable. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard also said the economy appears on track for more expansion this year.
Still, few investors are willing to call a bottom to a selloff in the markets that has dragged the S&P 500 down 23% this year. Many say they view market turbulence, such as the kind seen last week in the markets, as buying opportunities.
Tuesday’s bullish mood came alongside a selloff in U.S. government bonds, sending the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury note higher. The yield on the benchmark note traded at 3.275%, up from 3.238% Friday. Yields and bond prices move in opposite directions.
In premarket trading in New York, gains were spread across many sectors, with technology shares, travel companies and banks trading higher. Cruise lines Royal Caribbean Group, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings each climbed more than 3%, while American Airlines Group climbed 3.1%, boosted by expectations for what is expected to be a busy travel season.
Megacap technology companies climbed before the opening bell, too, with Amazon.com adding 2.2% and Netflix adding 2.3%. Tesla jumped 2.9%.
Other safe-haven assets retreated Tuesday amid improved investor sentiment. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of 16 currencies, slipped 0.3%. Gold prices fell 0.2% to $1,837 a troy ounce.
In commodities, oil prices rose. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose for a second day, climbing 1.3% to $115.62 a barrel. Last week, oil prices fell amid concerns that a possible recession would weigh on energy demand.
Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1%. In Asia, trading was mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.9% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.8%, while China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.3%.
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