Futures point to a positive open
U.S. stock markets are poised to start the week higher after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sunday authorized the use of blood plasma from people who recovered from coronavirus as a treatment for the disease.
The agency said early evidence suggests blood plasma can reduce mortality by more than a third and improve the health of coronavirus patients when administered during the first three days of their hospitalization.
President Donald Trump praised the FDA move, telling reporters at the White House: “This is what I’ve been looking to do for a long time. I’m pleased to make a truly historic announcement in our battle against the China virus that will save countless lives.”
The president had earlier blasted the agency for slow-walking trials for new coronavirus drugs, with the goal of hurting his reelection chances.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow indicated a gain of 222 points, or 0.8% to 28,081. The S&P 500 futures added 24.12 points, or 0.71% to 3,416.62 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 107.5 points, or 0.93% to 11,669.5.
Storms, Coronavirus treatment progress lift crude futures
Crude futures were also trading higher early Monday on signs of progress in development of a coronavirus treatment, and as Tropical Storm Marco and Tropical Storm Laura hit the Gulf of Mexico, forcing energy companies to shut down oil production and pull workers from offshore platforms.
The Gulf of Mexico offshore wells account for 5% of total U.S. natural gas production and 17% of total U.S. crude oil production.
At 5:40 a.m. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 33 cents, or 0.76% to $42.67 a barrel. International Brent crude futures were up 32 points, or 0.71% a barrel to $45.25.
Microsoft supports Epic’s lawsuit against Apple
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has voiced support for Epic Games’ high-profile legal battle with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) over App Store business practices.
In a court filing over the weekend, Microsoft said that allowing the iPhone maker to ban Epic’s developer account would badly hurt game makers by barring them from using Epic’s Unreal Engine.
Microsoft described Unreal as “one of the most popular third-party game engines available to game creators.” The company also warned that blocking Unread Engine would affect its racing game Forza Street.
“In Microsoft’s view there are very few other options available for creators to license with as many features and as much functionality as Unreal Engine across multiple platforms, including iOS,” the filing added.
Epic Games is the developer of popular video game Fortnite. Last week, the company filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Apple and Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) after the pair removed Fortnite from their app stores and to accused it of breaching guidelines.
