U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday, with technology shares gaining after an upbeat earnings outlook by Micron. The rising tech shares were led by chipmakers.
Markets braced for weekly jobless claims data to gauge the pace of a recovery in the labour market.
Meanwhile, official data is expected to show that the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits declined last week. It comes before the monthly jobs report on Friday that could likely show an additional 647,000 jobs in March after February’s 379,000 rises.
Stocks on the Move
Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc edged up 4.3% after its forecast fiscal Q3 revenue above Wall Street estimates. This was due to the higher demand for memory chips needed for 5G smartphones and artificial intelligence software.
Its rival Taiwan Semiconductor’s U.S.-listed shares added 2.3% on its plan to invest $100 billion. That will be for the next three years to meet the rising chip demand.
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.9%, along with Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc, and Apple Inc. These “high flying” stocks added between 0.6% and 1.1%. Last month, they underperformed over elevated valuations concerns.
The S&P 500 hit a new intraday high. However, it stopped short of reaching 4,000 points for the first time on Wednesday. This was as President Joe Biden revealed his $2 trillion-plus plan to rebuild the world’s largest economy.
Dow E-minis rose 3 points, or 0.01% at 06:38 a.m. ET, while S&P 500 E-minis gained 10 points or 0.25%. The Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 110.75 points, or 0.85%.
In the premarket, Johnson & Johnson slid 1.1%. This came after it said it found a problem with a batch of the drug substance for its COVID-19 vaccine produced by Emergent Biosolutions.
Uber Technologies Inc climbed nearly 2%. This was after Jefferies began coverage on the company’s shares with “buy”, saying the company could be profitable soon.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets will be closed on Good Friday.
Infra Stimulus Helps Sentiment
On Thursday, U.S. stocks started a new quarter on a positive note also because of the Biden administration’s tax and spending plans.
President Joe Biden has outlined his $2 trillion infrastructure plan on Wednesday. It included plans to modernize 20,000 miles of roadway and fix 10,000 bridges. Furthermore, proposals to install 500,000 electric-vehicle charging stations.
