Wall Street Set to Open Higher on Bargain Hunting, Merck Boost

A street sign for Wall Street is seen outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, N.Y., on June 28, 2021. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Wall Street’s main indexes were set to rise on Friday as steep losses in September saw investors buying into cheaper sectors, while drugmaker Merck rose on marking progress in the development of an oral COVID-19 drug.

Shares of Merck & Co. Inc. jumped 8.3 percent in premarket trading after the company’s experimental oral drug for COVID-19, molnupiravir, reduced by around 50 percent the chance of hospitalization or death for patients at risk of severe disease in a study.