by 3 minutes Reuters (Reuters) – The Dow and S&P 500 futures gained on Friday, as oil and banking stocks recovered following a severe selloff sparked by economic concerns, putting the indexes on course for their worst weekly loss since mid-June. PHOTO FROM THE FILE: On March 19, 2021, people can be seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, United States. Brendan McDermid/Reuters In premarket trade, energy companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp, Devon Energy Corp, Schlumberger NV, Occidental Petroleum Corp, and Halliburton Co climbed between 1% and 1.8 percent, tracking oil prices. As the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield increased, breaking an eight-day declining run, rate-sensitive lenders Wells Fargo & Co, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, and Bank of America Corp gained between 0.9 percent and 2%. Cruise lines like Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Carnival Corp gained more than 2.5 percent apiece, while airlines like United Airlines Holdings and American Airlines Group Inc gained nearly 1.5 percent each as a result of the economic recovery. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pulled back from record closing highs in a broad selloff on Thursday, as investors flocked to bond markets amid concerns that the domestic economic boom was losing speed. The S&P 500 has dropped 0.7 percent this week, while the Dow has dropped 1%. The Nasdaq is expected to suffer a 0.5 percent weekly decline, aided by a recent shift into growth companies, but it is still on track for its worst week since mid-May. The focus will now shift to second-quarter profits, which will be released next week by the major banks. According to IBES statistics from Refinitiv, analysts estimate profits growth of 65.4 percent for companies in the S&P 500 index in the second quarter, up from a previous forecast of 54 percent at the start of the quarter. Graphic: Companies in the United States are predicted to achieve their best results in the second quarter. – Dow e-minis were up 202 points, or 0.59 percent, at 6:45 a.m. ET, while S&P 500 e-minis were up 13.75 points, or 0.32 percent. The Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 22.75 points, or 0.15 percent, with mega-cap technology stocks such as Google parent Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, and Amazon.com falling between 0.1 and 0.3 percent. Levi Strauss & Co. rose 3.3 percent after forecasting a solid full-year profit after topping quarterly profits projections thanks to improved demand for jeans, tops, and jackets throughout its markets. Didi Global Inc, a Chinese ride-hailing business, saw its stock rise 4.5 percent for the first time in five days after the company was recently subjected to an inquiry by China’s internet authority. In Bengaluru, Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal reported; Arun Koyyur edited./n
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