S&P futures climb for eighth straight day

By Medha Singh

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday for the eighth session in a row as bets on an economic revival backed by prolonged central bank support fueled risk appetite, setting the benchmark S&P 500 for its best August in over three decades.

The Federal Reserve’s commitment to tolerate inflation and keep interest rates low, signs of progress in developing vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 and demand for tech-focused stocks have helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit consecutive all-time highs recently.

The blue-chip Dow is within 3% of its record close on Feb. 12.

The three main indexes are also set for their fifth straight monthly rise following this year’s March lows, with the S&P 500 looking at its biggest percentage rise in August since 1984, even as economic data pointed to an uneven recovery from the steep downturn.

U.S. presidential campaigns are set to take center-stage in the coming weeks with market volatility expected to spike ahead of polling in November.

At 6:26 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 46 points, or 0.16%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 8 points, or 0.23% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 46.5 points, or 0.39%.

Among early movers, Aimmune Therapeutics Inc more than doubled premarket after Swiss food group Nestle SA offered to pay $2 billion for full ownership of the peanut allergy treatment maker to expand its fast-growing health science business.

Apple Inc gained 1.5% to $126.64, while Tesla Inc rose about 3% to $455.60, as their stocks became less costly after their pre-announced stock splits took effect.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)