Wall Street set for higher open

Wall Street’s main indexes were set to open higher on Thursday as bets on more pandemic aid under a Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress eclipsed data showing elevated levels of unemployment claims.

After a dull start to the week, financials and industrial stocks powered the Dow and the S&P 500 to all-time highs on Wednesday in hopes that some of President-elect Joe Biden’s policies could speed up a vaccine-driven recovery.

“The market is telling you that fiscal stimulus is more important, and will be more impactful than the modest tax hikes likely to be passed by the administration,” Mantione said.

“A unified government will be a little bit of a more smooth path to fiscal stimulus.”

However, the Nasdaq, dominated by FAANG stocks that had led Wall Street’s rally from the pandemic lows, closed lower on fears that some of the companies could face antitrust scrutiny.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits unexpectedly dipped last week while staying extremely high, a Labor Department report showed, with the job market recovery appearing to stall as COVID-19 threatens to overwhelm the country.