U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday as traders kept an eye on Washington, looking for clues about the prospects of additional fiscal aid.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained about 80 points, implying an opening gain of 90 points. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.5%.
On Wednesday, congressional leaders closed in on a $900 stimulus package that would include direct payments to individuals.
A deal of this size would be “big enough to help bridge the economic gap to the other side for small businesses and the hardest hit industries, considering the pandemic could be close to over as early as Q2 2021,” wrote Tom Essaye, founder of The Sevens Report.
The measure would exclude liability protections for businesses as well as aid to state and local governments, CNBC confirmed. Disagreements over those issues have been a stumbling block in the latest round of negotiations.
On Thursday, data showed jobless claims totaled 885,000 last week, hitting their highest level since early September as the number of Covid-19 infections surged around the U.S. Economists expected 808,000 workers sought state jobless benefits during the week ended Dec. 12.
Wall Street was coming off a mixed session in which the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose while the Dow posted a small loss.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve pledged to do its part by keeping to buy bonds until the economic recovery was completed. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also said the central bank would increase its bond purchases if the recovery slows down.
Gregory Faranello, head of U.S. rates trading at AmeriVet Securities, said U.S. monetary policy will likely stay easy for a while.
“They feel that there still are disinflationary forces globally to contend with, and they are being realistic about their timeframe and their ability to achieve their inflation goal” of 2%, Faranello said. “This lends itself to this theme [rates] staying lower-for-longer.”
– CNBC’s Yun Li contributed reporting.
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U.S. stock futures were higher early Thursday morning as traders kept an eye on Washington, looking for clues about the prospects of additional fiscal aid.