Here are the top news, trends, and analysis investors need to get their trading day started:
1. Wall Street wants another positive week
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Source: The New York Stock Exchange
US stock futures fell on Friday, the day after a mixed session in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly from its previous record high while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq made new record highs. All three stock benchmarks tracked their second consecutive positive week to continue February’s strength. For the month to date, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 4.8%, 5.4% and 7.3%, respectively. The Dow and S&P 500 broke two-month winning streaks in January, while the Nasdaq rose for the fourth straight year in January.
2. The booming Disney + is helping to offset the theme park’s slump
Bob Chapek, CEO of the Walt Disney Company and former head of Walt Disney Parks and Experiences, speaks during a media preview of the 2019 D23 Expo in Anaheim, California on August 22, 2019.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Disney’s shares rose about 2% in premarket trading after the company posted adjusted earnings of 32 cents per share for the first quarter of its fiscal year late Thursday. Analysts had expected a loss of 41 cents per share. Revenue declined 22% year over year to $ 16.25 billion, but beat estimates. Disney saw a slump in theme park attendance and box office results due to Covid, but the success of its streaming video service continued. Disney + had more than 21 million subscribers for the quarter for a total of 94.9 million.
3. White house to address travel and education issues
A traveler wearing a face mask is seen at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, United States on February 2, 2021.
Ting Shen | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
According to Reuters, the airline’s key CEOs are due to meet with the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator virtually on Friday to discuss a number of travel-related issues. The meeting is taking place as airlines, unions and industry groups are strongly protesting the possibility of requiring pre-departure Covid testing prior to domestic flights.
A 3rd grade at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in southeast Washington, DC, February 5, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein | The Washington Post | Getty Images
The CDC plans to release new guidelines on Friday on how to reopen U.S. schools as safely as possible. The pressure to reopen or expand personal learning has been mounting in the US for months as students and parents tire of distance learning. Reopening schools is a top priority for the Biden administration.
4. The US secures 200 million more Covid vaccine doses
President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on February 11, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The White House has signed contracts for an additional 100 million doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine and an additional 100 million modernas. During Thursday’s tour of the National Institutes of Health, President Joe Biden said the US will now have enough two-shot vaccines to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of July. Biden is trying to speed up the pace of vaccinations after a slower-than-expected rollout under the administration of former President Donald Trump. Around 34.7 million of around 331 million Americans have received at least their first dose of Covid vaccine, according to the CDC.
5. In Trump’s impeachment proceedings, it is the defense’s turn
Former President Donald Trump’s defense team members David Schoen (center left), Michael van der Veen (center) and Bruce Castor (center right) will meet in the Senate on Thursday, February 3, before the start of the third day of the impeachment process in the Capitol on 11, 2021.
Bill Clark | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images
Trump’s impeachment defenders on Friday will argue why the former president failed to instigate the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol last month. You are ready to admit that the violence was just as traumatic, unacceptable and illegal as the democratic prosecutors have described it. But you also want to argue that Trump has nothing to do with it. The argument will likely appeal to Republican senators who want to condemn the violence themselves without condemning the president.
– Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow CNBC’s blogs about the markets, the pandemic and Trump’s impeachment.
