LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures had stocks opening higher on Monday as hopes of a V-shaped recovery in the economy offset concerns around an accelerating number of new Covid-19 infections in the US.
As of 1240 BST, Dow futures were up 0.49%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had those indices opening 0.57% and 0.69% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 208.64 points lower on Friday as the main US stockmarket indices recorded their third-consecutive losing session.

Stocks were seen opening higher on Monday despite the US reporting more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the country's largest single-day increase since 1 May. Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona all reported record single-day infection numbers and a total of 24 states showed an increasing trend in cases over the last week.

However, New York City will permit firms to reopen offices from today following a three-month lockdown across the financial centre.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed that while the White House was preparing for a second wave, it wasn't actually expecting one to hit.

"We don't necessarily expect a second wave but prudence dictates that we plan for it. There is no contradiction," he said on Sunday.

IG senior market analyst Joshua Mahony said: "While the US has a number of notable hotspots, we are seeing fatality levels associated with the virus gradually drop over time.

"For markets, the hope is that we will soon have enough tools to be able to bring the fatality levels down to a point where the high number of cases does not necessarily mean the overloading of healthcare systems and another collapse in economic activity."

On the macro front, the Chicago Fed's national activity index will be published at 1330 BST, while existing home sales will follow at 1500 BST.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis head Neel Kashkari will deliver a speech at 2330 BST.

In the corporate space, American Airlines shares were down in pre-market trading after announcing it was looking to raise up to $3.5bn in new financing as part of an effort to help it weather the Covid-19 storm, while Walmart shares were up after an upgrade by analysts at UBS.

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