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U.S. equity futures powered higher in early Monday trading, while the dollar had its biggest pullback in two weeks and Treasury bonds rallied, as markets reacted to President-elect Donald Trump choice for Treasury Secretary ahead of a holiday-shortened week.
Trump nominated Scott Bessent to serve as Treasury Secretary over the weekend, a billionaire hedge fund manager who is both respected on Wall Street and seen as a potential offset to some of the President-elect’s harsher economic policies.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.6% lower in the overnight session, its biggest decline in two weeks, and trading at 106.920 on bets that Bessent will act as a break on budget expansion.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were also lower as bonds reversed some of their inflation-inspired selloff, falling 6 basis points to 4.345%.
Minutes of the Fed’s November policy meeting, as well as key readings for October inflation and third quarter GDP, highlight and active holiday-shortened week on Wall Street.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
“Bessent is known as a fiscal hawk who has advised Trump to create a “3-3-3″ policy, including cutting the budget deficit by 3% of GDP by 2028, pushing GDP growth to 3% via deregulation and pumping extra 3 million barrels of oil each day,” Saxo Bank strategists wrote Monday. “He is also expressed that tariffs should be used more as a negotiating tool and implemented more gradually.”
Wall Street’s early reaction as also been positive, with stock futures suggesting a solid open across the board heading into the Thanksgiving week.
Futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which ended last week 1.68% higher to take its November gain to 4.63%, suggest a 32 point opening bell gain while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are priced for a 315 point advance.
Related: Goldman Sachs analyst sees starting point for year-end S&P 500 rally
The tech-focused Nasdaq, which gained 1.73% to boost its November gain to 5.02%, is called 135 points higher with Nvidia (NVDA) , Tesla (TSLA) and MicroStrategy (MSTR) shares active in premarket trading.
In overseas markets, European stocks were modestly higher in mid-day Frankfurt trading, with the Stoxx 600 rising 0.07% higher and Britain’s FTSE 100 gaining 0.13% in London.
More Wall Street Analysts:
Walmart analysts reset stock price targets ahead of Black FridayAnalysts revamp Cisco stock price targets after earningsAnalysts revisit Applied Materials stock price targets after Q4 earnings
Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.3% in a follow-up to last week’s rally on Wall Street, while the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark gained 0.57% into the close of trading.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
