U.S. stocks are set to rebound on Wednesday as investors once again made bets on a strong economic recovery from the pandemic.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials popped 111 points, or 0.4%, to 32,417.
Futures for the S&P grabbed 13.25 points or 0.3%, to 3,913.
The NASDAQ Composite index jumped 88.25 points, or 0.7%, to 13,094.50.
Shares of Intel led pre-market gains, up nearly 5% after the chip giant unveiled plans for a comeback, saying it was opening two new factories to manufacture its own chips and ones for other companies.
Cruise lines and airlines were rebounding in the pre-market Wednesday, however, with shares of Carnival and United Airlines higher by more than 2%. Energy stocks also rebounded as oil prices bounced.
General Mills, Tencent, KB Homes and RH are among the companies reporting earnings on Wednesday.
Many regions of the world are indeed seeing rising COVID-19 cases as highly contagious variants continue to spread, the World Health Organization said. Germany and France are extending or enforcing new lockdown measures.
But the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. is picking up with nearly one in five adults now fully vaccinated.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will continue their testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. In the first joint appearance Tuesday, the pair acknowledged the richly valued asset prices in the markets, but said that they are not concerned about financial stability.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 slumped 2% Wednesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng also lost 2%.
Oil prices advanced $1.33 to $59.09 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $3.50 to $1,728.6 U.S.