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S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures hover near record highs after Joe Biden strikes $1 trillion infrastructure deal, while oil prices rise

Joe Biden Rob Portman infrastructure dealJacquelyn Martin/AP

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S&P 500 futures hovered near a record high on Friday after President Joe Biden struck a deal with Republicans on a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, which includes $579 billion of new spending.

Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 were up 0.05%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.04%, after both indices hit a record high on Thursday. Dow Jones futures rose 0.26%, with industrial firms more likely to benefit from infrastructure spending.

In Asia overnight, China's CSI 300 jumped 1.63% while Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.66%. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.09% in early trading.

President Biden's deal would see over $1 trillion spent on upgrading the US's infrastructure over the next eight years. Roads, bridges and rail networks would be particular priorities.

Biden pushed Congress to pass the bill on Thursday, saying: "We have to move and we have to move fast."

Oil prices extended their rally on Friday, heading for a fifth weekly consecutive gain, with Brent crude up 0.36% to $75.82 a barrel and WTI crude up 0.27% to $73.50.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "News of the infrastructure plan also spilled over to the oil price in anticipation of further energy demand."

The deal helped push a broad range of stocks higher, including Caterpillar and Tesla, which both climbed more than 2.5%.

Bank shares also rose on Thursday after the Federal Reserve said lenders had passed stress tests and could resume stock buybacks and dividend payments.

Elsewhere, falling bond yields suggested investors are becoming comfortable with the central bank's management of the economy and markets.

The yield on the key 10-year US Treasury note, which moves inversely to the price, was roughly flat on Friday at 1.488%, down sharply from a high of more than 1.75% touched at the end of March. The dollar index was down 0.1% to 91.72.

One possible obstacle for markets is the release of the May core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, due at 8.30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect a 3.4% increase from 3.1% in April.

"While Fed officials have assured us that all of this is likely to be transitory, a high number could well give the markets pause," Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at trading platform CMC Markets, said.

Bitcoin slipped 1.8% to $34.226, according to Bloomberg data. The cryptocurrency fell below $30,000 on Tuesday, but investors have since shown willingness to buy the dip.

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