Market Snapshot: Dow futures up 140 points as stocks aim to extend rebound

What’s driving the market?

Investors stuck by the “buy the dip” mantra after the Dow on Monday suffered its biggest one-day drop since October, a selloff attributed in large part to rising fears over the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in the U.S. and other countries.

Over the past two weeks, cases of Covid-19 have increased by 75% in the U.S., with a seven-day average approaching 30,000 a day. Daily deaths are up 25 percent last week, reaching an average of 250 per day, but are still way below the levels during the worst of the pandemic with about 68% of the adult population vaccinated.

Analysts pegged a Tuesday bounce in stocks to ideas the selloff on Monday had been overdone in relation to the scope of the threat to the economic outlook from the pickup in cases.

“While it is very difficult to predict the course of the pandemic, we don’t currently anticipate that the spread of the delta variant will pose a major threat to economic recoveries, at least across the developed world,” said Bethany Beckett, assistant economist at Capital Economics, in a note.

Worries about the pace of economic growth, however, are at last partly justified, she said. China’s slowdown is likely to continue and the research firm’s U.S. growth forecast was nudged down, “but the big picture is that we still expect U.S.growth to be strong in absolute terms, and we forecast that global growth will remain above trend until end-2022. This underpins our view that, while we don’t expect big gains in risky assets from here, a major setback is unlikely,” Beckett said.

Technical factors were also in play, with the S&P 500 index holding support at its 50-day moving average, viewed as an indicator of an asset’s short-term trend, though the bounce didn’t send the all-clear signal.

Need to Know: This technical support shows the strength of the buy-the-dip force in markets

“Yesterday’s strong market performance was an ideal response to a pullback to support within a bullish trend but there are still reasonsto keep some cash on the sidelines,” said Kevin Dempter, analyst at Renaissance Macro, in a note.

“The divergence in breadth that we’ve seen suggests that there is vulnerability under the surface as the NYSE Cumulative Breadth Line and the percentage of issues trading above their 65-day moving average in the S&P 500 have both recently made lower lows,” he wrote.

Which companies are in focus?

• Netflix Inc.
  NFLX,
  -0.23%
  late Tuesday revealed its worst quarter yet for adding new subscribers and said the current quarter would have fewer additions than Wall Street expected. Shares were down 0.4% in premarket trading.

• Shares of Johnson & Johnson
  JNJ,
  +0.94%
  rose after the consumer and health company beat earnings estimates for the second quarter and raised its full-year guidance.

• United Airlines Holdings Inc.
  UAL,
  +6.58%
  reported another quarterly loss Tuesday, but told investors it expected to turn a profit next quarter. Shares were up 1.3%.

• Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
  CMG,
  +1.50%
  late Tuesday said revenue rose by nearly 40% in the second quarter. Shares rose 4.5%.

• Coca-Cola Co.
  KO,
  +0.18%
  shares were up 3% after the beverage giant delivered results Wednesday that topped expectations.

• Shares of Verizon Communications Inc.
  VZ,
  -0.47%
  rose more than 1% after the company reported earnings and revenue that beat forecasts while lifting its forecast.