Fed Governor Waller hints at October taper
Wall Street looks likely to open with gains on Tuesday morning, following comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller who said yesterday that if the next two monthly U.S. jobs reports turn out to be strong, he could vote in favor of a motion to start scaling back the central bank’s monetary policy support by October.
Waller said in an interview with CNBC that he thinks the Fed ought to begin reducing its $120 billion a month bond-buying program if the next two monthly employment prints each show jobs rising by 800,000 to 1 million.
He added that the central bank “should go fast” to offer policymakers enough ammunition to hike interest rates next year if they need to prevent an overheated economy.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 172 points, or 0.50% higher to 34,893. S&P 500 futures advanced 13.75 points, or 0.31% to 4,393.50 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 14 points, or 0.09% to 14,966.75.
Translate stock surges 29% after agreeing to be acquired by Sanofi
Shares of Translate Bio (NASDAQ: TBIO) are popping after French pharmaceutical group Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) announced plans to acquire the company for $3.2 billion.
In a press release published on Tuesday, Sanofi said the acquisition could help it accelerate the application of messenger RNA (mRNA) to develop therapeutics and vaccines.
“Our goal is to unlock the potential of mRNA in other strategic areas such as immunology, oncology, and rare diseases in addition to vaccines,” said Paul Hudson, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer.
Under the deal, Sanofi will acquire all outstanding shares of Translate Bio for $38 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of roughly $3.2 billion on a fully diluted basis.
As of writing, Translate stock was $8.64, or 29.64% to $37.79 per share in the premarket trading session.
Crude futures inch higher ahead of API data
Crude futures were also modestly higher early Tuesday after tumbling on Monday amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and deaths in many countries across the globe.
Inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) will be an important release to watch today for crude traders.
Analysts expect U.S. crude inventories to have declined last week with both gasoline and distillates inventories projected to have slipped for a third consecutive week.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 58 cents, or 0.81% to $71.84 a barrel. Global Brent crude futures were at $73.48, up 59 cents, or 0.81% a barrel.
