Dow futures hit record high ahead of jobless claims, Disney earnings

[August 12, 2021]  (Reuters) - Futures tracking the Dow hit a record high on Thursday ahead of earnings reports from companies including Walt Disney and data expected to show a jobs market recovery was on track.

The Labor Department's report - due at 0830 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) - is likely to show the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell further in the week ended Aug. 7.

Focus will also be on U.S. producer prices data after soft inflation figures for July on Wednesday assuaged fears of sooner-than-expected policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

"The data yesterday was encouraging but any signs here that it was a blip could unwind all of yesterday's good feeling and replace it with anxiety once more," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA Europe.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average logged record closing highs on Wednesday, helped by a rally in economy-linked value stocks following the passage of a large infrastructure bill.

Shares of steelmaker Nucor Corp and equipment maker Caterpillar Inc inched higher in premarket trading, building on gains made on expectations of future infrastructure projects.

At 6:54 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 46 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.75 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 9.5 points, or 0.06%.

In earnings-related moves, Baidu Inc's U.S. shares fell 2.1% even after it beat expectations for quarterly revenue, buoyed by a rebound in advertising sales and higher demand for its artificial intelligence and cloud products.

EBay Inc slipped 1.7% after forecasting third-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates, signaling that reopening economies and vaccine rollouts could be putting an end to the pandemic-led shopping boom.

Earnings report from Walt Disney Co, home rental firm Airbnb Inc and food-delivery firm DoorDash Inc are due later in the day.

DoorDash was up 2.3% on a report that the company held talks to buy grocery delivery firm Instacart for a likely price of between $40 billion and $50 billion.

Rate-sensitive lenders JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co, Bank of America Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc edged higher before the opening bell.

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)

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