US stock futures brushed off early losses and climbed on Sunday as new cases of coronavirus registered a record peak in one day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, which retreated around 200 points at one instance, rallied 100 points, or 0.4 percent, with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-00 futures also making decent advances.
The World Health Organization on Sunday disclosed that new cases of the disease soared by 183,000 in the preceding 24 hours, with Brazil and the US on top of the list.
A number of states kept dealing with growing cases of coronavirus this weekend as businesses reopened, with states across the South, West and Midwest hit especially hard. California recorded a staggering 4,515 new cases in a 24-hour period on Sunday, marking the highest for the state in a single day during the pandemic so far.
Cases in Florida rose by a single-day record of 4,049 based on Saturday's tally, and cases on Sunday were up by another 3,494. States including Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, and Utah also saw cases climb with single-day records over the weekend, stoking fears regarding a massive resurgence of the disease that could endanger the country's reopening process.
US stock futures remained flat in early sessions in Asia on Monday due to the growing coronavirus cases in the US. Chicago-traded futures showed that Japan's Nikkei could be on track to retreat 1.3 percent.
Apple Inc on Friday announced it was temporarily closing down 11 US locations because of the increase in coronavirus cases in southern and western states. Figures from Johns Hopkins University indicated new US cases on Saturday hit the highest mark since early May.
News of the US central bank acquiring corporate bonds along with a record increase in American retail sales lifted sentiment on Wall Street. Projections of an economic rebound also pushed up the prices of stocks.
According to Vito Racanelli, market analyst at Fundstrat Global Advisors, there is a "war going on between the bears and the bulls, with each seizing every little data to buttress their opposing arguments," Fred Imbert of CNBC, reported.
Coronavirus cases around the globe have breached 9 million mark. The numbers could reach 10 million in another week and COVID-19 fatalities have hit 469,000, based on reports. In the US, coronavirus cases have topped 2.35 million, with deaths of more than 122,000.
Market players will get a variety of economic data reports later in the week including existing and new housing sales in May, which are likely to reinforce the recovery from April's setbacks in the home market.
