Futures flat as investors pause after record day on Wall Street

[March 02, 2017]  By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday as investors took a breather after sending Wall Street to its best day since the November presidential elections on renewed optimism about the economy.

Wall Street's main indexes rallied on Wednesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average sailed past the 21,000 mark, boosted by President Donald Trump's more measured tone in a speech to Congress and as bank stocks surged on increased possibility of an interest rate hike this month.

An unusually large number of Federal Reserve officials have spoken this week, stoking the markets to price in higher chances of a rate hike when the central bank's policy-setting body meets on March 14-15. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is set to speak on Friday.

The dollar index <.DXY> was up on Thursday after gaining the most in nearly eight weeks, a day after the generally dovish Fed Board Governor Lael Brainard said rates could be raised "soon".

The odds for a move this month jumped to 74 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. Before the influential New York Fed president William Dudley spoke on Tuesday, the chances were roughly 30 percent.

Oil could dampen spirits on Thursday, with prices down 0.8 percent following a report that showed U.S. crude oil stocks hit an all-time high. [O/R]

Investors will also watch a report on jobless claims which likely edged down by 1,000 to 243,000 last week, pointing to continued strength in the labor market. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT).

The trading debut of Snap Inc, the owner of popular messaging app Snapchat, will also grab attention. Snap on Wednesday raised $3.4 billion in an initial public offering, giving the company a $24 billion valuation.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Among stocks, JD.com rose 6 percent to $32.53 in premarket trading after the Chinese e-commerce company reported a 47 percent jump in fourth-quarter revenue.

Monster Beverage jumped 12.2 percent to $47.13 following a quarterly revenue that beat analysts' average estimate.

Kite Pharma slipped 4.5 percent to $76 on Citigroup's downgrade to "neutral" and the company's planned offering.

Futures snapshot at 6:55 a.m. ET:

Dow e-minis  were up 5 points, or 0.02 percent, with 22,237 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.5 points, or 0.1 percent, with 122,836 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.01 percent, on volume of 17,726 contracts.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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