US equity futures rise after Biden’s election win By Reuters

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) – US stock index futures rose Sunday after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner in a highly controversial election.

Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania on Saturday put him above the 270 Electoral College votes needed to secure the presidency, four days after Election Day, although President Donald Trump does not plan to budge anytime soon.

S&P 500 e-mini Futures rose 34.5 points, or 0.99%, 277 points or 0.98%, and they rose 147.25 points, or 1.22%.

Stocks in Asia rose modestly, with MSCI’s broader Asia Pacific stock index outside of Japan () rising 0.36% after a 6.2% gain in the prior week, its best weekly performance at 5 months.

U.S. stocks closed Friday’s session little changed, but each of the three major indices still managed to post their biggest weekly percentage gains since April, partly due to the belief that Congress will remain divided even as Senate control still remains. is undecided.

“Although the president has not relented and there were concerns regarding the legal challenges, prominent Republicans, including former President (George W.) Bush, essentially publicly called elections and the market has also welcomed the election results.” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial (NYSE 🙂 in Newark, NJ.

“The market has gone up and it looks like we are going to continue.”

With the S&P 500 () just 2% off its September 2 closing record, headwinds persist for stocks, including a surge in coronavirus cases that could lead to further government lockdowns, with a total of cases in the United States it is close to 10 million.

A fiscal stimulus package to combat the economic damage caused by the coronavirus is also less likely to be comprehensive. While US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated last week that he wanted a bill by the end of the year, he said Friday that economic statistics show that Congress should enact a smaller plan.