* Futures up: Dow 0.20%, S&P 0.09%, Nasdaq 0.05%
Nov 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher onMonday as big industrial firms were supported by the passage ofa $1 trillion infrastructure bill, while Tesla fell on ChiefExecutive Elon Musk's plan to sell about a tenth of his stake.
Caterpillar Inc , Boeing Co and 3M Co rose between 0.5% and 3% in premarket trading after the Congresspassed a long-delayed infratructure bill, hailed by PresidentJoe Biden as a "once in a generation" investment. Steel and aluminum producers also gained, with Nucor Corp up 2.6% and United States Steel Corp adding 4.9%.
"The news that Joe Biden is on the cusp of signing off a $1trillion infrastructure package does provide a boost forindustrial names that have largely enjoyed a strong thirdquarter in any case," Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst atIG, said in a client note.Most mega-cap technology and communications companies weretrading higher, with the exception of Tesla Inc whichfell 5.3% after Musk tweeted on Saturday he would sell 10% ofhis stock if users of the social media network approved theproposal. Around 57.9% of the people voted "Yes". "The majority voted for him to sell, which effectivelysignals that he is going to dump stock on the market," said RussMould, investment director at AJ Bell."Investors may look at the situation and try and sell beforehe does, potentially then buying back at a lower price if theystill liked the stock."Wall Street's main indexes hit new record highs for mostpart of the previous week, supported by an upbeat earningsseason, strong October jobs data and a positive update on PfizerInc's experimental pill against COVID-19.
Investors last week also shrugged off the Federal Reserve'sdecision to start reducing its monthly bond purchases put inplace to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.With nearly 90% of the companies in the S&P 500 index having reported quarterly results, earnings are expected to haveclimbed 41.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier,according to Refinitiv IBES.
At 6:48 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 72 points, or0.2%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.09%, andNasdaq 100 e-minis were up 7.75 points, or 0.05%.
Six Federal Reserve officials are set to give speeches onMonday, with most of the investor attention likely to be on ViceChair Richard Clarida. Key inflation readings are also duethrough the week.