Stock futures are in positive territory following Biden's infrastructure speech

U.S. stock futures nudged higher early Thursday as Wall Street looked to build on a solid March following the rollout of President Joe Biden's infrastructure plan.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed to an opening gain of about 50 points. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 1.1%.

The move in futures came after Biden introduced his multitrillion-dollar infrastructure proposal. The plan includes spending on roads and bridges as well as green energy and water system upgrades. This marks the second major spending push of Biden's presidency after he signed a $1.9 trillion relief and stimulus bill on March 11.

The plan Biden outlined Wednesday includes roughly $2 trillion in spending over eight years and would raise the corporate tax rate to 28% to fund it.

Some on Wall Street grew worried that higher taxes could pose a threat to rebounding corporate earnings and stock prices.

"Higher taxes will also offset some of the upside from the infrastructure spending," said Anu Gaggar, senior global investment analyst at Commonwealth Financial Network. "The infrastructure investment might be good for the economy but not as much for the stock market."

Bank of America equity strategist Savita Subramanian said that the market may still need to digest the tax hikes included in the plan, creating a potential headwind for stocks.

"I think the market is pricing in the good news of infrastructure ... I don't think the market has necessarily priced in the negatives, which is how are we going to pay for this," Subramanian said on CNBC's "Fast Money."

Microsoft shares rose 1.2% in premarket trading on news that the software giant will deliver to the U.S. Army more than 120,000 devices based on its HoloLens augmented reality headset. The contract will be worth $21.9 billion over 10 years.

In deal news, Micron Technology and Western Digital are said to be exploring a deal to buy Japanese semiconductor firm Kioxia for about $30 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Micron shares jumped 3.8% premarket on the news, while Western Digital was up about 0.5%.

Tech stocks outperformed industrial and construction names on Wednesday despite details of plan rolling out, a possible sign that the increased funding has been priced in by the market. Recovery and cyclical stocks have performed well since the start of the year as investors grew more optimistic about government spending and Covid vaccinations.

Investors digested a worse-than-expected reading on weekly jobless claims Thursday. First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended March 27 totaled 719,000, higher than 675,000 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

Wall Street finished March with a positive day for broader markets. The S&P 500 rose 0.36% on Wednesday, breaking a two-day losing streak, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5%. Those indexes finished the month with gains of 4.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

The 30-stock Dow fell slightly but still finished the month with a gain of more than 6%.

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