Stock futures slightly higher following sell-off on Wall Street

U.S. stock futures were slightly higher during Wednesday’s early morning trade, following weakness in equities in the previous session. 

At around 4:05 a.m. ET, Dow futures rose 90 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures were both in positive territory. 

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 397 points, or 1.5%, breaking a two-day winning streak. The Dow was brought down by a 4.8% drop in Boeing. The S&P 500 also registered a loss, slipping 1.1%, to break a five day win streak. 

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.86%, after notching its 27th intra-day all-time high of the year earlier in the session on Tuesday. The technology-heavy index was positive for most of the day thanks to strength in Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Netflix, which all hit record highs. 

“While significant gains in technology stocks kept the market afloat yesterday, even these market darlings capitulated during the afternoon hours today,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, told CNBC. 

Stocks that hinge on the reopening of the economy dragged down the broader market as investors digested a resurgence in coronavirus cases in the U.S. More than 2.93 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. along with at least 130,306 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

“Concerns about rising U.S. Covid case counts continued to shake confidence in reopening efforts about the country,” Paulsen added. 

Sentiment was boosted when the U.S. government awarded drugmaker Novavax a $1.6 billion contract to develop a coronavirus vaccine, the biggest amount yet granted under the White House’s “Operation Warp Speed.”

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