U.S. Stocks Recover, China Cracks Down on HK

U.S. tech stocks are recovering, but China’s are suffering again. This came after Beijing drafted harsh new antitrust measures. Oil prices rebound on signals of strong U.S. demand.

The OPEC’s monthly report has a later release date. 

Experts are anticipating the U.S. stock markets to open higher on Wednesday, with U.S. tech firms finally recovering. They’ve shown two days of severe underperformance following Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine announcement on Monday.

Dow Jones Futures rose 227 points by 6:30 AM ET (1030 GMT), or 0.8%. S&P 500 Futures gained 0.9% and NASDAQ Futures climbed 1.1%. 

Apple stock was 1.2% higher on the launch day of its new generation of Macbooks. It is powered by chips that have been developed in-house.

Comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly support a positive mood. She said late on Tuesday that the Fed is in “intense discussions” about its various asset purchase programs. 

That has stoked speculation that the U.S. central bank will step in to provide some support for markets. This is while a lame-duck Congress stumbles towards the end of its session.

Air Products leads a fast-thinning lineup of companies reporting Wednesday. Earnings season is winding down. 

On Thursday, Lyft stock was marked up 5.6% after reporting better-than-expected earnings.

China Cracks Down on Hong Kong

The foreign policy challenges for the new U.S. administration under Joe Biden are stacking up.  Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong resigned en masse after four of its members were removed. This was under new laws allowing their replacement without a court process.

The U.S. response to evidence of further crackdowns in Hong Kong is likely to set back. This was by the refusal of the current Trump administration to prepare for the handover of power. 

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he expected a smooth transition of power to a second term.

Elsewhere, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance asked a U.S. court to extend a Thursday deadline. This is for selling the video streaming service to a U.S. firm, calling the current deadline “arbitrary and capricious”. 

Moreover, complaining that communications from the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. had effectively stopped. That was during the end of the election campaign.

In other economic news, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that a trade agreement with Britain should be secured. That is by the end of 2020. Although, there was an issue that Britain might not have “bandwidth” to move forward with talks.