Wall Street set for modest open as election debate looms

As time ticks down to tonights potentially crucial US presidential debate, investors on Wall Street appear to be prepared to hope for the best. Spread betting quotes suggest the Dow Jones Industrial Average will open a modest 26 points firmer at 27,610 while the S&P 500 is expected to start 6 points to the good at 3,357. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite is looking a bit more hale and hearty, with a 277 point gain to 11,395 in prospect. The show-down between two aging gunslingers is not the only political show in town, of course, following yesterday’s proposal by the Democratic Party of a US$2.4tn stimulus package for the US economy. “Yesterday, we heard more positive tones from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said that she has spoken with US Treasury Mnuchin on another relief package and that she expects talks to continue. With the Democrats lowering their demands, she argues that it is the White House and the Republicans’ turn to follow suit by accepting a larger stimulus package,” reported Danske Bank. “While an agreement still seems at least somewhat down the road (the White House and Pelosi are still around USD1,000bn apart), risk sentiment got a boost yesterday afternoon from Pelosi's comments. As we argued in yesterday's morning comment, if the two parties can agree on more fiscal stimulus, it may be the trigger for shifting the recent risk headwind to tailwind,” the Nordic investment bank said. Also on the agenda today are speeches by Federal Reserve policy-makers, Messrs Williams, Harker, and Quarles. Palantir, the data analytics company, is set to float today and is expected to be valued at around US$20 billion. “For the day ahead, I’ll be watching out for the Palantir IPO, Micron Technologies earnings, and the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” revealed LCG’s Jasper Lawler. “Really Palantir (ticker PLTR) will be a direct listing not a proper IPO. The listing is expected to value Peter Thiel’s company at over US$20 billion but as is often the case with tech companies when raising money - it is still unprofitable,” Lawler noted. Four things to watch for on Tuesday: A lot of attention will be on the political arena on Tuesday as Donal Trump and Joe Biden square off for the first of three televised presidential candidate debates at around 9pm EDT. Topics are slated to include the record of both candidates in government as well as the Supreme Court, coronavirus and race relations Other political news that may draw the eye will be negotiations over the latest Democrat stimulus package in the final days before Congress leaves Washington DC at the end of the week to return after November's election The CB consumer confidence index for September is expected to show an increase to 89.5 from 84.8 in August, indicating that US consumers are more upbeat about their prospects for the economy despite the ongoing pandemic Other macro news will include the US advance goods trade deficit for August, which is expected to show a slight narrowing to US$78.9 billion from US$79.3 billion in July