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* Futures up: Dow 0.87%, S&P 0.74%, Nasdaq 0.86%
By Medha Singh
Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday
as the country's top drug regulator's approval for emergency use
of antibody-rich blood plasma on COVID-19 patients lifted
treatment hopes and spurred bets of a quicker economic recovery.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's move to use plasma
from recovered patients was hailed by President Donald Trump and
came a day after he accused it of impeding the rollout of
treatments for political reasons. Further aiding market sentiment, was a report that the Trump
administration is considering fast-tracking an experimental
COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc AZN.L and
Oxford University for use in the United States before election.
The news comes on the eve of the Republican National
Convention, where Trump will be nominated to lead his party for
four more years, kicking off the final sprint to Nov. 3 Election
Day.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record levels on Friday,
wrapping up four weeks of gains on bets that technology focused
companies will emerge stronger from the pandemic and the economy
will return to growth on continued monetary and fiscal support.
The Dow, however, is still about 6% below its February peak.
Meanwhile, the next phase of coronavirus government aid
remained elusive as top Democrats and Republicans continued to
blame each other for stalled talks on the legislation.
A key event this week would be the address by Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole
symposium, where he will talk on the monetary policy framework
review.
At 6:16 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 241 points, or
0.87%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 25 points, or 0.74% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 99 points, or 0.86%.
Among stocks, Apple Inc AAPL.O gained another 1.8%
premarket and was on track to open above $500 per share for the
first time. The iPhone maker became the first public U.S.
company to cross $2 trillion in market value last week.