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Stock futures are flat after S&P 500 notches best week since February at record high

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Traders are seen working on the New York Stock Exchange’s floor on December 8, 2021, in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Stock futures held steady in overnight trading Sunday after the S&P 500 notched its best week since February at a fresh record close, rebounding from a big sell-off triggered by fears of the omicron coronavirus variant.

Futures on Dow Jones Industrial Average were 35 points higher. S&P 500 futures inched up 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures were flat.

After a solid week on Wall Street, investors shrugged off the overnight action. a hot inflation reading. Last week’s 4% gain by the blue-chip Dow broke its four-week losing streak and was now at its highest weekly performance since March. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.8% and 3.6%, respectively, last week, both posting their best weekly performance since early February.

The headline inflation rate data jumped was a surprise to investors. came in at 6.8% in NovemberYear-over-year, the largest surge in sales since 1982. This print was slightly higher than the Dow Jones 6.7% estimate.

In a note, Rick Rieder (BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income), stated that while inflation will likely remain higher in the future, there are still risks of inflation. However, he said that “the passing of base effects” and the easing supply chain constraints at the end of the year could slow down inflation to more manageable levels.

This key inflation reading was released ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting, which will last two days. Policymakers are likely to talk about speeding up its end-of-bond-buying program.

Jerome Powell, Fed Chair as well as a parade of Fed speakersRecent reports have all suggested that the central banks could suspend the $120 Billion monthly bond purchasing program before the timeline of June 2022.

“We believe strong economic growth and labor market recovery have clearly moved Fed towards an accelerated focus upon shifting policy and especially in getting over with quantitative easing,” Rieder stated.

Last week saw stocks rebound as investors believed that initial concerns about Covid’s strain were exaggerated. People also found comfort in the news from Pfizer and BioNTechThree doses of the vaccine provided high protection against the variant, according to a recent study.

The following is the current status as of Sunday U.S. was approaching 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths. Some officials have had to impose health restrictions on the new strain to limit its spread.

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