Futures flat after Wall Street suffers worst day in two months

[December 29, 2016]  By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday, a day after the S&P 500 index turned in its biggest fall in two months, putting a damper on a post-election rally.

Trading volumes are expected to remain light. But traders will be keeping an eye on jobless claims, which likely fell to 264,000 last week. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT).

U.S. equities had been enjoying a rally since the presidential election in November on bets that Donald Trump would introduce tax cuts, deregulation and higher infrastructure spending that would spur economic growth.

The near two-month rally has seen the three main Wall Street indexes rack up double-digit percentage gains, but has left some market participants nervous about a potential correction.

The S&P 500 index suffered its biggest one-day percentage drop on Wednesday, following weak housing data and losses in the technology sector. The down day also led the Dow away from its pursuit of 20,000.

The dollar index fell 0.4 percent on Thursday, after seeing its best rise this month.

U.S. crude prices were off 0.4 percent after data showed a surprise increase in U.S. inventories. [O/R]

Nvidia's shares fell nearly 3 percent to $106.06 in heavy premarket trading, setting the stock up for a second straight day of losses after short-seller Citron Research tweeted that the chipmaker's stock could fall to $90 in 2017.

Traders work on the floor at the close of trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 28, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia's rival, were off 2.6 percent.

Cempra dropped 14.75 percent to $5.20 after the drug developer said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected its antibiotic to treat pneumonia.

Futures snapshot at 6:58 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis  were down 8 points, or 0.04 percent, with 13,981 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.25 points, or 0.01 percent, with 61,004 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 2.25 points, or 0.05 percent, on volume of 11,087 contracts.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.