(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Tuesday, with Tesla leading gains among beaten-down growth stocks amid hopes that the recent protests in China could lead to a quicker easing of strict COVID-19 curbs in the country.
Shares of Tesla Inc rose 1.7% in premarket trading and the electric-vehicle maker led gains among high-growth stocks, with Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Meta Platforms Inc rising between 0.7% and 0.8%.
China issued a notice to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations for the elderly, while a senior health official said public complaints about the country’s pandemic-related curbs stem from overzealous implementation rather than from the measures themselves.
Wall Street’s main indexes ended about 1.5% lower in the previous session amid protests in China, while Apple closed at a near three-week low on worries about a hit to iPhone production.
At 6:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 23 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.26%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 54 points, or 0.46%.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Pinduoduo Inc and JD.com Inc rose between 5.3% and 7.7% as China broadened equity financing channels for property developers.
Roku Inc dropped 2.4% after KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the streaming device makers’ stock to “sector weight” from “overweight”.
On the data front, consumer confidence data for November, due at 10 a.m. ET, is expected to ease further to 100.00 from 102.50 in the previous month amid rising concerns about inflation and a possible recession next year.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
