U.S. stock indexes were set to open higher on Monday, as traders priced in a greater chance of presidential candidate Donald Trump winning a second term after surviving an assassination attempt, while rate cut hopes further boosted sentiment.
Under Trump, markets expect a hawkish trade policy and looser regulations over issues from climate change to cryptocurrency.
The dollar and some Treasury yields rose on Monday, as investors also anticipate Trump's policies would increase inflationary pressures and government debt.
Online betting site PredictIt showed bets of an election win for Trump at 67 cents, up from Friday's 60 cents, with a victory for Joe Biden at 28 cents.
"In a Republican administration, you'll see a lower tax policy, lower regulatory policy... that's typically good for stocks. We're seeing some of that in terms of forward looking expectations from investors at this point," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
The Trump-linked stocks soared in premarket trading. Trump Media & Technology Group was one of the most actively traded stocks and jumped 47.9%, while software firm Phunware and video-sharing platform Rumble jumped 29.3% and 10.3%, respectively.
Crypto stocks also leapt as bitcoin rose to a two-week high. Coinbase Global gained 4.8%, while Marathon Digital holdings and Riot Platforms advanced over 6% each.
Other stocks that are expected to benefit from Trump's second term also climed, with Gunmaker Smith & Wesson and prison operator GEO Group gaining 6.6% and 7.0%, respectively.
Investors priced in a nearly 87% odd of a 25-basis-point rate cut by September and two cuts for 2024, according to LSEG data, even though the Fed's last set of economic projections had indicated only one rate cut this year.
Rate cut hopes aided Friday's strong rally, which saw the Dow and the S&P 500 touch intraday record highs after cooler-than-expected inflation data, and the Russell 2000 index notch its best week since November.
Futures tracking the small cap index were up 0.71% on Monday.
Comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, expected later in the day, will be parsed for clues on their assessment of last week's inflation data.
At 8:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 206 points, or 0.51%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 20.75 points, or 0.37%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 76.25 points, or 0.37%.
As the quarterly corporate earnings season ramps up this week, it remains to be seen if megacaps can justify their high valuations.
Goldman Sachs' second-quarter profit more than doubled. The lender's shares rose 0.9%.
BlackRock edged up 0.1%, after the world's largest money manager's assets hit a record high and profit grew 9% in the second quarter.
Apple advanced 2.0% after Morgan Stanley added the iPhone-maker's stock to its "top pick" list, while Tesla jumped 4%.
Macy's shares slumped 12.3% after the company said it terminated buyout discussions with Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital. - Reuters