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U.S. stock futures were higher early Friday as investors bet again on stocks that would benefit from a potential effective vaccine and economic recovery next year.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 198 points, or 0.7%, to 29,190.
Futures for the S&P 500 added 22.75 points, or 0.6%, at 3,555.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite hiked 76 points, or 0.6%, to 11,896.
Shares of Disney gained 4% in pre-market trading after reporting better-than-expected results. Shares of Carnival Corp., United Airlines and Boeing gained in pre-market trading, capping big gains for the week.
Shares of Dow members Disney and Cisco rose sharply in after-hours trading after both companies reported quarterly results that beat analyst expectations.
Disney gained as the company said it now has 73 million paid subscribers for its streaming service, Disney+. The media giant also reported a smaller-than-expected loss for the quarter.
Cisco popped more than 6% on the back of strong earnings and revenue. The company also issued better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter.
The Dow is up 2.7% for the week so far after Pfizer’s news on Monday that the vaccine it is developing with BioNTech was more than 90% effective in a trial. This caused a rotation into the cyclical stocks that would benefit from an economic comeback next year. Investors dumped technology shares which have held up during the pandemic.
However, mid-week the rotation paused as traders worried that a rising number of coronavirus cases could hit the economy significantly before a vaccine gets here.
The pause in the rally this week came as the number of coronavirus cases, and hospitalizations, keeps climbing in the U.S. An analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed average daily new cases are up by at least 5% over the past week in at least 47 states.
Hospitalizations, meanwhile, are rising in at least 46 states.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dipped 0.5% Friday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index eased back 0.1%.
Oil prices slumped 77 cents to $40.35 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved $13.40 to $1,886.70
