Wall Street: The start is expected to start slightly after the record, pending unemployment benefits

Milan (Finanza.com)

The session is expected to start flat on Wall Street after the recent gains and records posted yesterday by the Dow Jones and S&P500. About two and a half hours before the start, the contract on the Dow Jones is +0.05%, the contract on the S&P500 is +0.09% and the Nasdaq future is up 0.14%. However, US indices are on track to close the year at all-time highs with the highest increase in three years since 1999.

Today, new weekly applications for unemployment benefits will arrive from the total level, at 2.30 pm Italian time. This number is highly anticipated by operators looking to boost their confidence in the US economy in the face of rising cases of Covid-19.

Wall Street has rebounded recently, despite the meager trading volumes, thanks to the reassurance that the Omicron variant was less severe than the Delta strain. The increase in cases in the United States is expected to peak by the end of January, according to Anthony Fauci, the US’s chief infectious disease advisor.

Among the individual stocks on Wall Street, Johnson & Johnson should be watched after a study showed an 84% effectiveness of a Covid vaccine in preventing hospitalizations from the Omicron variant. Also attention was given to Micron who warned that the current blockade in the Chinese city of Xian to contain infections could cause delays in the supply of DRAM chips.