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Nasdaq futures rose 0.1% as investors returned to technology
stocks that have shown resilience during the pandemic. Netflix
Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp edged higher premarket.
In a surprise move on Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin said key COVID-19 pandemic lending programs at the
Federal Reserve to support businesses and local governments
would expire by the end of the year.
The decision to end the program, which was deemed essential by
the central bank, comes as data showed a rise in jobless claims
last week as new business restrictions to control spiraling
coronavirus infections unleashed a fresh wave of layoffs.
California and Ohio imposed nightly curfews on Thursday, joining
20 U.S. states to have adopted new mandates to fight the spread
of the virus this month.
The S&P 500 and the Dow are little changed over this week
following two strong weeks of gains, as investors juggled
between growing optimism over an effective coronavirus vaccine
and near-term economic damage from the surging virus cases.
At 6:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 67 points, or 0.23%, S&P
500 e-minis were down 5 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis
were up 14.25 points, or 0.12%.
Pfizer Inc rose 1.8% premarket as the company said it has
applied to U.S. health regulators for emergency use
authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Apparel and home fashion retailer Ross Stores Inc gained 3.4%
after its quarterly sales topped expectations.
(Reporting by Shivani Kumaresan and Medha Singh in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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