By Medha Singh
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rebounded on Friday as shares of Disney and Cisco advanced after both reported upbeat quarterly results, but investors remained cautious as many U.S. states imposed restrictions to curb the relentless surge in coronavirus cases.
Cisco Systems Inc and Walt Disney Co were the top gainers among the Dow components trading before the bell. Futures tracking the blue-chip index were 0.9% higher.
The network gear maker jumped 7.7% premarket as it gained from work-from-home driven surge in demand, while Disney rose 4.3% as its rapidly growing streaming video business and a partial recovery at its theme parks limited its quarterly loss.
Wall Street’s major indexes ended sharply lower on Thursday as a jump in U.S. coronavirus infections fueled fears about the recovery, with investors also weighing how fast an effective vaccine would be rolled out.
More than a dozen U.S. states reported a doubling of new COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks with Chicago’s mayor issuing a month-long stay-at-home advisory on Thursday.
Positive data on a late-stage vaccine development earlier this week lifted demand for sectors that would benefit from an upswing in the economy – including financial and energy stocks, putting the S&P 500 and Dow on track for weekly gains.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, however, is headed for a weekly loss as investors booked profits in market-leading technology stocks, which have benefited from a stay-at-home environment.
At 06:12 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 0.91%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 0.86% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis gained 0.73%.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
