Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes rose at the start of extended trading Monday evening after finishing strong last week.

Dow futures rose 180 points, suggested an implied open of about the same magnitude, while S&P 500 contracts added 19.25 points, or 0.5%. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 67.5 points, or 0.5%.

The U.S. stock market was closed on Monday for Presidents Day.

The major averages finished last week with decent gains even as February's rally appeared to cool off somewhat. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average posted two little changed days, while the S&P 500 swung within 0.2% for three days in a row.

Still, the S&P 500 finished the week with a gain of 1.2%, while the Dow added 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.7%. All three closed at record levels on Friday.

Stock strategists say the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, economic reopening and expectations for more fiscal stimulus are key to the market's buoyant February thus far.

"Covid is far from defeated, but the path toward economic normalization is clearer as more vaccines that reduce hospitalizations and eliminate fatalities are approved," Dennis DeBusschere, strategist at Evercore ISI, said in an email.

"Treasury Secretary [Janet] Yellen's forceful arguments for additional stimulus followed by Fed Chair [Jerome] Powell describing maximum employment as 'our national goal' helped lift bond yields, inflation expectations, and oil prices last week," he added.

The Dow has gained 4.9% in February, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have rallied 5.9% and 7.8%, respectively. The S&P 500 has raked in ten record closes in 2021.

Still, DeBusschere warned that rising interest rates and an uncertain policy outlook could keep trading from growing too frothy in the near term and recommended investors stick to cyclical stocks that could see the most upside as the U.S. economy recovers.

Those so-called cyclical sectors, those most sensitive to an economic rebound, have led the rally in February. Energy is up more than 13% month to date, with financials and materials also among the leading sectors.

In corporate news, CVS Health, Occidental Petroleum, Palantir and others will report earnings on Tuesday.

Executives from Robinhood, Melvin Capital and Citadel are scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. Lawmakers are likely to grill the group on the wild trading in GameStop and other heavily shorted equities.

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As a record amount of money flows into the market, Wilmington Trust's Meghan Shue sees a troubling trend.

Shue, who oversees almost $136 billion in assets, is concerned retail investors are rushing into stocks and cryptocurrencies that are high risk and offer few benefits — if any at all.

"It's a little bit of chasing returns in the wrong areas. It's also a little bit of chasing what's already happened," the firm's head of investment strategy told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Friday. "One thing we have to be careful of is not to extrapolate what we've seen over the recent three months into the future."

Shue's warning comes after Bank of America's latest weekly report found investor inflows hit an all-time high. Its latest data shows $58 billion went into global stocks.

"What we have seen from that Bank of America data are record inflows into U.S. large cap, in the tech sector," said Shue, a CNBC contributor. "But less attention is being paid to areas that we think offer better potential for future returns."

Shue's concerns also apply to speculative assets involved in this year's Reddit-induced retail trading mania pumping up lower quality stocks — as well as bitcoin. As of Friday's close, the cryptocurrency is up about 65% since January 1 and 360% over the past 52-weeks.

"Money is coming off the sidelines and is looking more speculative than it has in years," Shue said in a special note to "Trading Nation."

Rather than piggybacking on areas that have already seen sharp moves higher, Shue urges investors to target economically sensitive stocks, small caps and emerging markets. Her investment timeline is 9 to 12 months.

"There's more room to go in terms of long-term catch-up," added Shue.

In the case of emerging markets, she contends the group typically performs strongly in the beginning stages of global economic expansions.

"You have to have more exposure to cyclicals and value than you did last year," she said.

A market bull, Shue believes the Covid-19 vaccine deployment will accelerate over the next couple of months and help repair the economy faster than widely anticipated.

But she's not ruling out a pullback along the way due to high levels of market euphoria. In that case, Shue recommends buying the dip and going small.

"In the U.S., the top trade is U.S. small cap," Shue said. "If you look at early expansion periods, you tend to see U.S. small cap outperform large by a pretty large margin for a longer period than just a couple of months."

Disclaimer

VIDEO4:1404:14The chase after returns in speculative assets is worrisome: Meghan ShueTrading Nation

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• Freezing weather racked portions of the U.S. and fostered demand for fuel while simultaneously threatening to hamstring oil production in Texas.
• The jump in oil prices WTI crude futures up 24% so far in 2021. It touched $60.77 a barrel earlier in the session, its highest level since January 2020.
• "Frigid weather means that many oil wells may be shut in. Water is produced along with oil, that water can freeze up equipment," oil analyst Andy Lipow wrote over the weekend

Silhouette of Permian Basin pumpjacks taken at dusk, north of Midland, Texas, U.S. in late 2019.Richard Eden | via Getty Images

Freezing weather in regions across the U.S. sparked another rally in energy prices and put West Texas Intermediate crude on pace to settle above $60 a barrel for the first time since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

WTI crude futures rose 67 cents, or 1.1%, to $60.14 a barrel Monday morning around 10:08 a.m. ET. The jump brings WTI crude futures up 24% so far in 2021. It touched $60.77 a barrel earlier in the session, its highest level since January 2020.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed 1.3% to $63.26 after hitting its own 13-month high.

The latest pop in the energy market came as cold weather racked portions of the U.S. and fostered demand for power and fuel while simultaneously threatening to hamstring production in Texas.

"Winter storm and arctic blast of cold weather that is making its way south to Houston may have some severe impacts on the oil industry," oil analyst Andy Lipow wrote over the weekend.

"Frigid weather means that many oil wells may be shut in. Water is produced along with oil, that water can freeze up equipment," he added. "The cold air affects oil production in Canada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and elsewhere."

More than 150 million Americans are currently under some category of winter weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service. As of early Monday morning, the agency was predicting a "major winter storm" to dump heavy snow and significant ice from the southern plains and Ohio Valley into the Northeast.

Lipow, president of Texas-based Lipow Oil Associates, added that while the winter storm likely isn't as severe as the Category 5 hurricanes the Gulf Coast has come to know, odds are good refineries will slow operations and prepare for outages.

He also noted that the storm is partly to blame for a steady rise in gasoline prices over the last week.

The average per-gallon price of regular gasoline rose to $2.46 from $2.41, according to the latest weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Analysts expect that the EIA's next weekly report, due Tuesday, will show that retail gas prices climbed further.

The recent rally in crude prices also marks an extension of the oil market's rebound since the coronavirus pandemic gutted demand for petroleum products throughout much of 2020 and sent crude prices reeling in April.

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• Woodford announced that he would be launching a new investment firm, Woodford Capital Management Partners, in Jersey.
• The suspension and eventual winding up of Woodford's flagship fund, forced the U.K.'s most famous fund manager to close his first firm, Woodford Investment Management, in October 2019.

Neil Woodford, Woodford Investment Management.Woodford Investment Management

LONDON — Neil Woodford, the former U.K. star stockpicker whose investment firm collapsed in 2019, has said "sorry" to investors for losses as he shared plans to make a comeback with a new business. 

Woodford said in an interview with The Telegraph, published Saturday, that he was "very sorry for what I did wrong." 

The fund manager also announced that he would be launching a new investment firm, Woodford Capital Management Partners, in Jersey. The firm will reportedly only raise money from professional investors and will focus on the biotech sector, British biosciences and health care. 

Backing riskier early-stage and unlisted companies in these areas, compounded with poor performance from other stock picks, was what led to a wave of investor redemptions from the Woodford Equity Income Fund. This resulted in the suspension and eventual winding up of the fund, which forced the U.K.'s most famous fund manager to close his first firm, Woodford Investment Management, in October 2019. The suspension and closure of the fund meant ordinary investors had to wait months to get their money back. 

Woodford made his name in the dotcom bubble by eschewing expensive tech stocks and selling out of banks in the lead up to the financial crisis, while working at Invesco.  

Woodford said in the Telegraph interview that for the rest of his life he didn't want to "hide away and beat myself up about things that happened the best part of two years ago." 

The U.K.'s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, is still investigating the events that led to the suspension of Woodford's fund. 

In the interview, Woodford defended his former firm's culture, saying that the scrutiny it faced in the media "hurts." 

He also took aim at the fund's administration, Link Fund Solutions, for closing Wood Equity Income. 

"I didn't make the decision to suspend the fund, I didn't make the decision to liquidate the fund," Woodford said.

"As history will now show, those decisions were incredibly damaging to investors, and they were not mine," he added, saying it was "Link's decisions."

A spokesperson for Link Fund Solutions was not immediately available to comment on Woodford's remarks when contacted by CNBC.

Link has refuted Woodford's claim, according to an article in Investment Week, saying that any suggestion that the firm was "not aware of the possibility of suspension, or did not engage in discussions concerning the decision to suspend, is incorrect."

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• On Saturday, Musk invited Putin via Twitter to join him for a conversation on Clubhouse, which is an audio-only app that's growing rapidly after gaining popularity in Silicon Valley.
• The Tesla and SpaceX CEO then said in Russian: "It would be a great honor to speak with you."

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the Extended Boards of Interior Ministry on February 26, 2020 in Moscow, Russia.Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images

Russia hasn't ruled out the idea of President Vladimir Putin talking to Tesla billionaire Elon Musk on social media app Clubhouse, according to multiple media reports.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday told reporters that the proposal was "interesting" but more details were needed, according to Tass news agency. The news was also reported by Reuters and Russian media outlet RBC.

"First we want to figure it out, you know that President Putin does not directly use social networks, he personally does not run them," Peskov said, according to translated remarks.

"In general, this is a very interesting proposal, but one must first understand what is meant, what is proposed."

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

On Saturday, Musk invited Putin via Twitter to join him for a conversation on Clubhouse, which is an audio-only app that's growing rapidly after gaining popularity in Silicon Valley.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO then said in Russian: "It would be a great honor to speak with you."

Clubhouse has been downloaded around five million times, according to app tracker App Annie. Like other U.S. social media platforms, it was blocked in China last week.

The invite-only iPhone app allows people to have conversations "on stage" while an audience listens in. Members of the audience can be invited up "on stage" to ask speakers questions.

Musk interviewed Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev on Clubhouse on Jan. 30, and last Wednesday the entrepreneur wrote on Twitter that he has agreed to "do Clubhouse" with Kanye West.

Last month, Clubhouse was valued by investors at around $1 billion. Twitter has rolled out its own version, known as Spaces, while Facebook is reportedly working on a similar product.

VIDEO5:1505:15Clubhouse CEO on the social network's mission, recent growth, moderation prioritiesSquawk Box

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• Bitcoin surged more than 5% to an all-time high of $49,716 Sunday afternoon, according to data from industry website CoinDesk.
• The cryptocurrency has since reversed course, sinking 2.4% in the last 24 hours to a price of around $47,925.
• The Valentine's Day surge was driven by news of large firms like Tesla, Mastercard and BNY Mellon warming to cryptocurrencies.

Tesla, led by Elon Musk, confirmed that it purchased about $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin in January and expects to start accepting it as a payment in the future.Artur Widak | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Bitcoin's price reached a new record high of almost $50,000 on Sunday, as major Fortune 500 companies showed support for digital currencies.

The world's largest cryptocurrency by market value surged more than 5% to an all-time high of $49,716 Sunday afternoon, according to data from industry website CoinDesk.

The digital asset reversed course Monday, sinking 2.4% in the last 24 hours to a price of around $47,925.

The Valentine's Day surge was thought to have been driven by news of large firms like Tesla, Mastercard and BNY Mellon warming to cryptocurrencies.

Tesla revealed it had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin in a filing last week and said it would soon accept payments in the digital coin.

Mastercard said Thursday that it would support certain cryptocurrencies later this year, while BNY Mellon announced the following day it would open up its custody services to digital assets.

Bitcoin's price more than quadrupled in 2020 and is up more than 60% since the start of this year. Bulls say it's down to heightened demand from institutional investors and a perception of the digital coin as a store of value similar to gold. But bears worry bitcoin may be one of the biggest market bubbles in history.

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The stock of Jack in the Box could soon live up to its name.

Rising short interest in shares of the West Coast-based fast-food chain appears to be setting the stock up for a short squeeze, Danielle Shay, director of options at Simpler Trading, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Friday.

"I like Jack in the Box here, but for a short-term options trade," Shay said.

Though the stock is not far off its all-time highs, which would usually preclude Shay from buying in, she made an exception on account of the unusual activity. Jack in the Box currently has 9.2% short interest, according to FactSet.

"With something like this that has short interest, it does have the potential for a short squeeze and it has earnings coming up," Shay said. "For that reason, I do like to trade shorter-dated calls in the earnings series. That way, I can take advantage of just the momentum going into the earnings report and the rise in [implied volatility]."

For investors seeking a longer-term trade in the space, Shay suggested the stock of McDonald's.

"If you look at a weekly chart of McDonald's, it has been consolidating for quite some time. I do believe that that consolidation is going to break out to the upside. I'm targeting $240," she said. "It's a little bit more of a long-term trade, so, you could sell put credit spreads on a regular basis [or] buy long calls 90-120 days out."

McDonald's shares ended trading down less than half of 1% at $213.90 on Friday.

"It's going to take a while for restaurants that depend on indoor dining," Shay said. "People are going to be concerned about going. They're not able to open up at full capacity. … For me personally, I would rather focus on the fast-food chains that their model already is specifically focused on drive-thru."

Limited-service restaurants are a better bet than their full-service counterparts right now, Piper Sandler's Craig Johnson agreed.

"That's where you're starting to see some of the same-store sales comps really showing to be positive," he said in the same "Trading Nation" interview, pointing to a chart of Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

"This has been a long-term winner. It's a name that we've owned in our model portfolio for some time and we still think it should be bought," Johnson said, noting that the stock is above its 50 and 200-day moving averages, in an upward channel and showing strong performance relative to the S&P 500.

"This stock looks like it still has more room to run," he said. Chipotle ended trading down 1% on Friday.

Johnson's second pick was the stock of Chili's parent Brinker International.

"On a weekly chart looking back a handful of years, you'll see that you've finally reversed a downtrend off of those '14 highs and now we're breaking out to new highs," he said.

Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwards

Brinker's performance is also strengthening relative to the S&P, "providing confirmation to us that there is something positive happening here," Johnson said. Brinker shares closed about half of 1% lower on Friday.

"It looks like a lot of these restaurants are looking in really good technical shape for another leg higher," Johnson said.

New York City restaurants reopened for indoor dining at 25% capacity on Friday.

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• India could become the world's second largest Covid vaccine maker, according to consulting firm Deloitte.
• Analysts say the country has the capacity to produce for both its own population and other developing countries.
• Even before Covid-19, the South Asian country produced up to about 60% of the world's vaccines —and at a relatively low cost.

A medic holds Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin vials during the countrywide inoculation drive, in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021.Vishal Bhatnagar | NurPhoto | Getty Images

India could become the world's second largest Covid vaccine maker, and analysts say the country has the capacity to produce for both its own population and other developing countries.

Most of the world's vaccines have historically come from India. Even before Covid-19, the South Asian country produced up to about 60% of the world's vaccines — and can do so at a relatively low cost.

"India has been a manufacturing hub for vaccines … even before the pandemic, and should therefore be a strategic partner in the global inoculation against COVID-19," JPMorgan analysts wrote in a report last month.

Consulting firm Deloitte predicts that India will be second only to the U.S. in terms of coronavirus vaccine production this year. PS Easwaran, a partner at Deloitte India, said more than 3.5 billion Covid vaccines could be made in the country in 2021, compared to around 4 billion in the U.S.

Furthermore, companies in India are currently scaling up production to meet demand.

"We are expanding our annualized capacities to deliver 700 million doses of our intramuscular COVAXIN," said Indian firm Bharat Biotech, which developed a Covid vaccine together with the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research.

Covaxin has been approved for emergency use in India, but has been mired in controversy due to criticism that there was a lack of transparency in its approval, and also because it hasn't published enough efficacy data.

India vaccines suitable for developing world

Another vaccine — known as Covishield in India and co-developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford — has also been granted emergency approval in India. It is being produced locally by the Serum Institute of India (SII).

According to Reuters, SII makes around 50 million doses of Covishield every month, and plans to increase production to 100 million doses a month by March.

Other Indian companies have agreed to produce vaccines for developers such as the Russian Direct Investment Fund and U.S. firm Johnson & Johnson. To be clear, these vaccine candidates have not been approved for use yet.

"Even without successful vaccine development from their own pipelines, available capacity provides opportunity to partner as contract manufacturers with approved vaccine developers to meet supply needs particularly for India and other [emerging markets]," the JPMorgan report said.

With a proven track record on the scale at which vaccines are produced, India should be able ramp up production to meet international demand as well.Nissy SolomonCentre for Public Policy Research

India's vaccines will likely be more suitable for developing countries, said K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India.

Some of the leading vaccines right now, such as the ones from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, make use of messenger RNA technology (mRNA) which uses genetic material to trigger the body's own infection-fighting process.

Those vaccines require "stringent cold chain requirements" that will be difficult, or even "out of the realm of possibility," for most health systems, Reddy said.

Vaccines made in India are easier to transport and cheaper, putting the country in a better position than the U.S. and Europe when it comes to meeting demand in the developing world, he added.

India's 'proven record'

India's huge production capacity also gives analysts confidence that the country can provide vaccines to other nations.

New Delhi has pledged to send vaccines to its neighboring countries, and has already supplied 15.6 million doses to 17 countries, according to Reuters.

"India's manufacturing capabilities are sufficient to meet domestic demand," said Nissy Solomon, a senior research associate at Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR).

"With a proven track record on the scale at which vaccines are produced, India should be able ramp up production to meet international demand as well," she told CNBC.

Solomon added that the country monitors domestic needs before making decisions on exports.

Bharat Biotech, for its part, said it is "fully prepared to meet the needs of India and global public health."

Challenge of storing, distributing vaccines

However, there will be challenges as the country seeks to meet the vaccine demand in India and beyond.

Jefferies equity analyst, Abhishek Sharma, wrote in a note that the rollout of vaccines in India has been slow. Even under the assumption that the speed of vaccinations will increase, Sharma estimates that only 22% of India's 1.38 billion population can be vaccinated in a year.

That's roughly the number of people India wants to inoculate by July or August.

"The supply of vaccines is not as much a problem as that of storage, distribution and vaccine uptake," said CPPR's Solomon.

"India lacks the capacity to store and distribute to the masses at a scale as big as this," she said, adding that the country should "strategically" choose vaccines that do not have to be stored at extreme temperatures.

I would say that [these challenges are] more like speed breakers which will slow down the … program, rather than actual roadblocks which require the program to stop.K Srinath ReddyPublic Health Foundation of India

The vaccines that India currently manufactures require normal refrigeration, but those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech need to be kept in extremely cold temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit), while those by Moderna have to be stored at minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).

The "real challenge" is in the sheer number of people who need to be vaccinated, said Reddy from the Public Health Foundation of India.

"This is the first time that an adult immunization program is being undertaken at such an unprecedented scale," he told CNBC.

He said immunization programs typically focus on vaccinating children and mothers, and logistics network may not be prepared to handle vaccines for entire populations.

Reddy suggested that existing cold chain for food products could be used for vaccines, and was hopeful that this problem could be resolved.

"I would say that [these challenges are] more like speed breakers which will slow down the … program, rather than actual roadblocks which require the program to stop," he said.

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• President Joe Biden on Sunday called on Congress to strengthen gun laws on the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
• The president called for several provisions including background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and eliminating legal immunity for gun manufacturers.
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement on Sunday that Congress would work with the Biden administration to enact two background check bills.

President Joe Biden speaks as he meets with Senators from both parties in the White House on Feb. 11, 2021.Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Sunday called on Congress to strengthen gun laws on the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

"Today, as we mourn with the Parkland community, we mourn for all who have lost loved ones to gun violence," Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

The president called for several provisions including background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and eliminating legal immunity for gun manufacturers.

"This Administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call. We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer," Biden said. "We owe it to all those we've lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change."

Fourteen students and three staff members were killed in the Parkland shooting. The student survivors started the March for Our lives movement in support of gun control legislation.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement on Sunday that Congress would work with the Biden administration to enact two background check bills. The House passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act during the last Congress.

"On this solemn remembrance, Democrats join the American people to renew our commitment to our unfinished work to ensure that no family or community is forced to endure the pain of gun violence," Pelosi said. "We will not rest until all Americans, in schools, in the workplace, in places of worship and throughout our communities are safe, once and for all."

Susan Rice, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Cedric Richmond, a senior advisor to Biden, hosted a virtual meeting last week with leaders of gun violence prevention advocacy groups to discuss how to reduce gun violence.

VIDEO2:3302:33Gun sales surge during the pandemicThe News with Shepard Smith

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• The seven Republican senators who joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol are now facing heat in their home states.
• Party leaders and local GOP officials, many seeking to curry favor with the broad swath of conservative voters still loyal to Trump, have condemned the 7 lawmakers for breaking ranks with the rest of the party.
• The Senate ultimately acquitted Trump on Saturday in a 57-43 vote after an unprecedented second impeachment trial.

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) speaks to the media as he departs after House impeachment managers rested their case in impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump, on charges of inciting the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 11, 2021.Joshua Roberts | Reuters

The seven Republican senators who joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol are now facing heat from conservatives in their home states.

Party leaders and local GOP officials, many seeking to curry favor with the broad swath of conservative voters still loyal to Trump, have condemned the 7 lawmakers for breaking ranks with the rest of the party.

The critiques illustrate the strong hold that Trump continues to have over Republicans nationally in spite of his November loss and his subsequent refusal to concede defeat.

Polling conducted after the attack on Congress last month continues to show Trump holds a sky-high approval rating among Republicans, and that about half of the GOP is primarily loyal to the ex-president himself, rather than the party.

The Senate ultimately acquitted Trump on Saturday in a 57-43 vote after an unprecedented second impeachment trial.

While Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was the lone member of the GOP to vote against Trump after his first trial, he was joined this time by six others: Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Some of the senators, including Cassidy, have already been hit with official rebukes from their state party, while many of the others are facing a chorus of criticism from local conservatives. Cassidy was censured by the Louisiana GOP just hours after his vote.

The backlash against Sasse, who is expected to also face a formal censure, was mentioned directly by one of Trump's defense attorneys from the Senate floor.

"There seem to be some pretty smart jurists in Nebraska, and I can't believe the United States senator doesn't know that," Bruce Castor Jr. said during an at-times confounding address. Castor said Sasse "faces a whirlwind even though he knows what the judiciary in his state thinks."

Because of prior comments critical of Trump, local GOP chapters in several Nebraska counties have passed resolutions calling for Sasse's censure, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. A meeting of the state GOP to formally censure the senator was postponed because of weather, the paper reported.

Burr, a senior Republican whose vote to convict Trump came as a surprise to most observers, also drew fire from home state conservatives.

"North Carolina Republicans sent Senator Burr to the United States Senate to uphold the Constitution and his vote today to convict in a trial that he declared unconstitutional is shocking and disappointing," the state Republican Party chairman, Michael Whatley, said in a statement.

Burr is not seeking re-election to a fourth term in the Senate. Mark Walker, a Republican seeking to succeed him in 2022, wrote in a post on Twitter shortly after Saturday's vote: "Wrong vote, Sen. Burr," appending a fundraising message.

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Toomey may also face "possible backlash at home to come." The newspaper reported that Lawrence Tabas, the state's GOP chairman, said in response to Toomey's vote that he shared a "disappointment of many of our grassroots leaders and volunteers."

On the whole, it's unlikely that the backlash will inflict electoral damage in the near-term. Six of the seven Republicans will not be facing re-election next year, in the 2022 cycle. Only Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2002, faces an imminent reelection battle.

Some have speculated that the Alaskan's impeachment vote may provide an impetus for former Gov. Sarah Palin to enter the race in a primary. Palin herself has stoked rumors she'd enter the race.

Each of the seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump has defended their decision to do so, in statements and in posts on social media. In a video posted online ahead of the vote, Sasse repeated his warnings about Republican loyalty to Trump and said that "politics is not about the weird worship of one dude."

Toomey, in a thread of posts on Twitter, acknowledged that Trump's attorneys "made several accurate observations" during their arguments. But, he said, "As a result of President Trump's actions, for the first time in American history, the transfer of presidential power was not peaceful."

"His betrayal of the Constitution and his oath of office required conviction," Toomey wrote, defending his decision.

Cassidy, in an interview on ABC News on Sunday, said that he was "attempting to hold President Trump accountable" and that Cassidy was "very confident that as time passes people will move to that position."

"The Republican Party is more than just one person. The Republican Party is about ideas," he said.

CNBC has reached out to each of the seven Republican lawmakers.

The criticism of the senators echoes earlier attacks on the House Republicans who voted in favor of Trump's impeachment in the lower chamber. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming was censured by Republicans in her state after her colleagues in the House pushed, unsuccessfully, to strip her of her leadership role.

Some Republicans who did not even vote for Trump's impeachment have been criticized for not being deferential enough to the ex-president. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for instance, voted to acquit but still delivered a sharp criticism of Trump's Jan. 6 rally speech, accusing him of being responsible for the day's violence.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., excoriated McConnell on Sunday for the address.

"I think Sen. McConnell's speech, he got a load off his chest, obviously, but unfortunately he put a load on the back of Republicans," Graham said on Fox News. "That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns."

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