U.S. stock-index futures rose on Tuesday, as investors piled into economically sensitive stocks on hopes that the U.S.massive fiscal stimulus and accelerating vaccine rollouts would aid in the recovery of the world’s biggest economy.

Global Stocks:

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup; target $36

FXStreet notes that since 2020, the S&P 500 is up 22% while the US Technology sector has seen outsized gains of 51%. The robust rally has triggered valuation concerns in the Technology space. Data, however, suggest otherwise. The expectation of strategists at DBS Bank is for the broad uptrend to persist, albeit at a slower pace.

“It is not untrue that on a forward price-to-sales (P/Sales) basis, valuation for US Technology is looking stretched at 6.5x. But this ratio belies the fact that profitability for US Technology companies is on the rise. This is affirmed on a forward P/E basis, which shows valuation for the sector is nowhere near the levels seen during the dot-com bubble.”

“The AAII Bull/Bear ratio reflects the market sentiment of financial advisors. Currently, the ratio of 1.7 is broadly in line with the long-term average and this suggests that sentiment is not at an extreme.”

“When the percentage of stocks closing above their 200-dma crosses above the 80% mark, the likelihood of a pullback in the year-on-year change for S&P 500 is on the cards. It is to be noted that a deceleration in the rate of change need not necessarily mean that the S&P 500 will enter a negative correction mode. Instead, it suggests that the market can continue to grind higher, albeit at a slower pace. This was what happened when the indicators breached the 80% mark on previous occasions.”

FXStreet reports that in the opinion of FX Strategists at UOB Group, the outlook for NZD/USD remains tilted to the constructive side for the time being, with the next target at 0.7280.

24-hour view: “The subsequent NZD strength exceeded our expectation as it rose to 0.7249. Upward momentum has improved, albeit not by much. From here, NZD could edge above 0.7255 but major resistance at 0.7280 is likely out of reach. Support is at 0.7220 followed by 0.7205.”

Next 1-3 weeks: “There is not much to add to our update from yesterday (15 Feb, spot at 0.7225). As highlighted, the outlook for NZD is still positive but it could take a few days before it could move to 0.7280. Overall, the positive outlook is deemed intact as long as NZD does not move below 0.7180 (‘strong support’ level was at 0.7155 yesterday).”