US stock-index futures gained along with global equities as concerns about China’s crackdown faded and as investors sought to take advantage of last week’s market weakness after Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said on Friday he’s open to adjusting his view that the central bank should start tapering its asset-purchase program sooner rather than later if the delta variant persists and hurts economic progress. Bond yields rose as demand for havens eased. Commodities also rallied after China announced no new cases suggesting the Delta scare is ending; The dollar was weaker and Bitcoin surged above $50,000, the highest level since mid-May. At 7am ET, Emini S&P futs were up 15 points or 0.34% to 4,452; Dow futures rose 158 points or 0.45% and Nasdaq futures were 40 points higher or 0.27%.

Oil shares led the pack, as investors returned to riskier assets after a sharp selloff last week on worries about a slowing pace of U.S. economic growth. Oil majors Chevron Corp, Exxon Mobil, Schlumberger NV and Occidental Petroleum gained between 2% and 3.6% in premarket trading, tracking a 3% jump in crude prices. The S&P 500 energy sector slumped 7.3% over the past week, its worst fall since mid-July, on concerns over the outlook for fuel demand due to new coronavirus restrictions in some parts of the world. Other economy-sensitive stocks also rose, with major Wall Street banks up about 0.8%.

Boeing added 1.3% after a media report that the planmaker was planning investment in Virgin Orbit’s $3.2 billion SPAC listing. General Motors fell 2.1% after the largest U.S. automaker said it would take a $1 billion hit to expand the recall of its Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles due to the risk of fires from the high-voltage battery pack. Walt Disney rose 0.9% after the media company raked in $125 million in online revenue from Marvel superhero film “Black Widow”.

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