By
Steve Muchoki
April 16th, 2024
At 7.30 p.m. EST, the U.S. stock market indexes were up, and futures started soaring. By the moment of writing, Dow futures have already gained around 400 points.
Wednesday began with U.S. stock futures climbing in the early morning following Super Tuesday election results. Dow futures soared by 371 points at the open, S&P 500 futures climbed 1.4%, and Nasdaq futures were up 1.5%.
Notably, yesterday, the stock futures market was in a downturn. It closed with the Dow Jones futures lower by 786, or 2.9%. The plunge happened just one day after the futures recorded the best point gain in their history. Further, the S&P 500 closed down 2.8%. The Nasdaq Composite also tanked by nearly 3%. The droop resulted from the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by a half-point. According to the institution, the initiative aimed to protect the U.S. economy from the coronavirus consequences. But the investors saw a bad sign in the rate cut, therefore, the stocks suffered drops.
Today the situation is different. At 7.30 p.m. EST, the three indices were up, and futures started soaring. By the moment of writing, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have already gained 400 points.
Super Tuesday Election Results
Upward movement on the stock futures market comes after the results of Super Tuesday appeared. Super Tuesday is the election day early in a United States presidential primary season when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Candidates seeking the presidency traditionally must do well on this day to secure their party’s nomination.
This year, the results of the great day are as follows. Former Vice President Joe Biden won nine states, including Texas, North Carolina, and Virginia. Senator Bernie Sanders took Colorado, Utah and his home state of Vermont. Besides, he won in California. In general, with 82% of the vote in, Biden is leading with 33.2% over Sanders, who has 29.3%.
After polls closed in Virginia and reports began appearing that Biden had won the state, futures started growing.
Lori Calvasina, RBC Capital Markets Head of Equity Strategy, said earlier to CNBC:
“We think the equity market has also been spooked by the decline in expectations that Trump will get reelected in the betting market, as well as Sanders’ early 2020 surge in the betting markets and the polls.”
Calvasina further stated:
“If Super Tuesday goes well for Biden, the areas with the most negative assessments may experience some relief. We think this is particularly true for Health Care, where performance has had a decent relationship with Biden’s odds in the betting markets for quite some time.”
And that happened. In particular, the stock of health-care company UnitedHealth rose by over 4% after hours on Tuesday.
Notably, for Wall Street Biden is a more preferable candidate than Sanders. However, Biden also could defeat President Donald Trump in November, making tax hikes more likely.