Stock Futures Take Baby Steps in Effort to Extend Friday's Record Run

New York (Feb 13)  Stock futures edged higher on Monday morning as good vibes from Friday's record-breaking rally were sustained through the weekend.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.16%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.25%, and Nasdaq futures added 0.11%.

Wall Street rallied to new heights last week as Donald Trump made vague promises of tax reform, hopes for which had given markets a big boost in the two months after the U.S. election in November. Trump said he would deliver a tax reform plan in the near future.

The president on Thursday, in a meeting with airline and airport executives, said that lowering the overall tax burden on American businesses was important, adding, "We're going to announce something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax."

Markets initially rallied following Trump's surprise victory in November as investors hoped for infrastructure spending, tax cuts, and loosened financial regulations. However, the Trump rally hit the skids following his January inauguration as geopolitical uncertainty, particularly in the wake of a controversial and unconstitutional travel ban, made for market waves. The travel ban, which affected seven Muslin-majority nations, was deemed unconstitutional last week by judges in the 9th Circuit.

On Friday, all three major U.S. stock indexes closed at records for their second day in a row. The Nasdaq ended with its fourth straight closing record on Friday. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Washington on Monday to meet with the president. The meeting could illuminate the U.S.'s ongoing participation in the North American Fair Trade Agreement, as well as the two countries' stances on the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline's development had been blocked by the Obama White House.

Source: TheStreet