Wall Street pointed markedly higher early today, the Associated Press reports, with futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping 0.4% before the bell and futures for the S&P 500 adding 0.3%.
Shares of U.S. Steel tumbled 4.7% in premarket as President Joe Biden is expected to formally declare opposition to the planned sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan. Nippon announced in December that it planned to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains, and U.S. national security.
Shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev slumped 3.6% after Altria said it was selling a portion of its stake in the maker of Budweiser. Altria is offering up 35 million of its 197 million ABI shares.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 70 cents to $80.42 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 60 cents to $84.63 per barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar ticked down slightly to 147.73 Japanese yen from 147.74 yen.
