Wall Street set for opening gains after sharp weekly losses

After the major benchmarks had their worst weekly selloff this year due to concerns about restrictive monetary policies, Wall Street was set for a relief rally on Monday as investors spotted value in beaten-down firms.

The blue-chip Dow lost all of its year-to-date gains on Friday, and the S&P 500 posted its third straight week of losses due to concerns that the Fed will have more room to raise rates due to the U.S. economy’s strength and high inflation.

Although U.S. Treasury yields declined following a significant gain, futures suggested that sentiment might improve on Monday. Growth stocks that are sensitive to interest rates increased in premarket trade, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

According to a recent production plan examined by Reuters, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained 2.8% when the electric car manufacturer announced that its plant in Brandenburg, close to Berlin, was producing 4,000 cars per week, three weeks ahead of schedule.

Because of how much the market fell last week, Sam Stovall, chief investment analyst at CFRA Research in New York, said, “We are looking at a relief bounce today.”

“The stock market typically has its worst month of the year in February. Investors are therefore coming to the conclusion that, at least in the short term, stocks may rise from a seasonal perspective.”

The yield on two-year notes is the most sensitive to short-term rate forecasts, which dropped after reaching a nearly four-month high earlier in the session.

Traders increased their bets on a 50 basis point (bps) increase in March after data released last week revealed that the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the benchmark used by the Fed to gauge the achievement of its 2% inflation target, increased 5.4% in February.

Fed fund futures show traders have priced in a third 25 bps hike this year and see rates peaking at 5.38% by September.

At 8:52 a.m. ET, the Dow e-minis were up 235 points, or 0.72%, the S&P 500 e-minis were up 34 points, or 0.86%, and the Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 134.5 points, or 1.12%.

Statistics released on Monday revealed that new orders for important capital goods produced in the United States climbed more than anticipated in January, while orders for durable products decreased more than anticipated.

Investors will be paying close attention to Fed Governor Philip Jefferson’s speech later in the day after the policymakers’ hawkish remarks from last week.

As the Wall Street Journal reported that Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was in preliminary talks to acquire the biotech company, Seagen Inc. saw a 13.2% increase. Pfizer’s stock fell 1.1%.

As Chief Executive Lance Fritz announced his resignation, the stock price of American railroad operator Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) increased by 9.7%. This announcement came after the hedge fund Soroban Capital Partners called for Fritz to be fired.

After reporting increased orders for its sports utility vehicle Ocean and maintaining its production forecast for the year, Fisker Inc. saw a 9.2% gain.