LDN - Business

Nasdaq 100 futures scale new peak ahead of jobless claims data

[June 24, 2021] By Devik Jain

(Reuters) - Nasdaq 100 futures hit a record high on Thursday as shares of Tesla and other top-shelf technology companies rose, while investors awaited weekly jobless claims data and tracked progress in President Joe Biden's infrastructure package.

The Labor Department's report is expected to show that fewer Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended June 19 amid an improving job market recovery.

Separately, a final print of first-quarter GDP is also due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).

Tesla Inc rose 2.7% after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he would list SpaceX's space internet venture, Starlink, when its cash flow is reasonably predictable, adding that Tesla shareholders could get preference in investing.

Mega-cap tech names Google-owner Alphabet Inc, Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp, Netflix Inc and Facebook Inc also gained between 0.4% and 0.6%, setting the Nasdaq for a record open.

So far this week, the value index, which includes economy-linked energy, financial and industrial stocks, and its tech-heavy growth counterpart are both up almost 1.8% following the Federal Reserve's hawkish forecast from a week ago.

"The interesting development over the past few days suggests that the markets are in a temporary stasis buying on dips as the fear of missing out prevails," said Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management.

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People are seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

"This is evident in the rotation into growth stocks which makes little sense in a time of likely rising interest rates as they are quite leveraged, though not all."

The S&P 500 growth index is up 3.9% so far in June and has gained 9.9% for the quarter, compared to the value index, which dropped 2.23% this month.

Focus was also on Biden's meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Thursday to discuss their proposed framework for an infrastructure bill as he looks to push a large-scale spending package through Congress despite Republican opposition.

At 6:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 193 points, or 0.57%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 82 points, or 0.57%.

Big lenders Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co added between 0.5% and 1.0%.

MGM Resorts International rose 2.7% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the casino operator's stock to "buy" from "hold".

(Reporting by Devik Jain and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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