Focus turns to Georgia Senate races
U.S. stock futures point to a slightly higher open for Wall Street on Tuesday ahead of two important Senate runoff elections in Georgia.
One comes down to Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock, and the other race is between Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff.
The two races will decide control of the U.S. Senate, which will have a huge impact on how many policy plans President-elect Joe Biden can implement in his first two years in office.
If either of the incumbents, Loeffler or Perdue, wins their races on Tuesday, Republicans will retain control of the Senate. But if they lose, Biden’s Democratic party will clinch control of the Senate – and Congress – through a tiebreaker vote from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
By 5:00 a.m. ET, futures for the blue-chip Dow rose 59.5 points, or 0.2% to 30,163.5. Those for the S&P 500 gained 7.63 points, or 0.21% to 3,699.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures ticked up 20.75 points, or 0.16% to 12,706.25.
NYSE abruptly abandons plans to delist 3 Chinese telecoms
The New York Stock Exchange has abandoned plans to proceed with the delisting of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), China Unicom (NYSE: CHU), and China Telecom (NYSE: CHA).
NYSE announced in a statement released Monday night that “it no longer intends to move forward with the delisting action,” citing “consultation with relevant regulatory authorities in connection with Office of Foreign Assets Control.”
The stock exchange had on Thursday said that it would part ways with the three state-owned Chinese telecom firms by Jan. 11, after a U.S. government order in November barred Americans from investing in 31 companies that the Trump administration says support China’s military.
Hong Kong-listed stocks of China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom surged following the U-turn.
Crude futures higher; OPEC+ adjourns crucial meeting
Crude futures jumped on Tuesday even after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, adjourned their meeting on Monday.
The oil producing countries failed to agree at the meeting on whether to increase production further in February as market volatility continues because of Covid-19 pandemic. They are, however, expected to resume talks later today.
As of 5:00 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $48.07, up 45 cents, or 0.94% a barrel. International Brent crude futures moved 39 cents, or 0.75% higher to $51.48 a barrel.
