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(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday after Western Alliance (NYSE:WAL) led a bounce among regional banks, while investors awaited more deal talks to avert a potential national debt default.
Shares of U.S. regional banks rose, led by a 10.2% premarket rise in Western Alliance Bancorp as the lender’s deposit growth exceeded $2 billion and brokerage Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Global Research resumed coverage of the bank with a “buy” rating.
Peers PacWest Bancorp and Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) NA added 10% and 4.0% respectively.
Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday made progress in talks to determine whether to increase the U.S. debt limit. After an hour of talks, however, McCarthy told reporters the two sides remained far apart on an agreement.
A White House spokesperson said Biden will continue to hold talks with congressional leaders on the nation’s debt limit later this week.
“Regional banking fears, tough Fed talk, and rhetoric over the debt ceiling from politicians have all leaned on stocks over the past week or so,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“The market is likely to trade side ways as the earnings season comes to an end and the focus shifts towards the June FOMC meeting.”
Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) edged 0.1% lower in choppy trading after the retailer beat first-quarter profit expectations but forecast current-quarter profit below expectations.
The results came a day after weak results from Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and a reading on U.S. April retail sales that missed expectations highlighted the impact of higher prices and interest rates on consumers, weighing on Wall Street on Tuesday.
Investors will now await retail behemoth Walmart (NYSE:WMT)’s earnings on Thursday. Its shares edged 0.4% higher.
At 7:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 126 points, or 0.38%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 13.75 points, or 0.33%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 28.25 points, or 0.21%.
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc rose 1.5% after its annual shareholder meeting.
Top boss Elon Musk played down market rumors that he may step down as CEO of Tesla, touched upon two new mass-market models it is developing, and reaffirmed that deliveries of its long-delayed Cybertruck pickup would start this year.
