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* Weekly jobs claims likely to slip to 5.25 million
* OPEC+ meeting set for around 1400 GMT
* Starbucks down 2.2% after forecasting profit drop
* Futures off: Dow 0.52%, S&P 500 0.72%, Nasdaq 0.63%
(Adds details comment; Updates prices)
By Uday Sampath Kumar and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged lower on
Thursday as investors braced for another staggering weekly
jobless claims number, while oil prices rose on hopes of
sweeping production cuts.
Weekly initial jobless claims, the most timely data on
economic health, are expected to have surged to 15 million in
the past three weeks, even with figures for the week ended April
4 likely to slip to a seasonally adjusted 5.25 million,
according to a Reuters poll of economists. Estimates in the survey were as high as 9.295 million, and
the final report from the Labor Department is expected at 8:30
a.m. ET.
"The virus situation in the U.S. had been worsening day by
day last week and we wouldn't be surprised if we get a new
record (in jobless claims)," said Charalambos Pissouros, senior
market analyst at JFD Group.
"This would confirm that the damages in the U.S. job market
are worse than previously anticipated and may trigger another
round of risk aversion."
In another sharp swing, which is no longer unusual on Wall
Street, the benchmark S&P 500 jumped 3.4% on Wednesday on early
signals that social distancing measures were leading to a
slowdown in the coronavirus outbreak in U.S. hot spots.
While public health experts said the steps were vital to
controlling the contagion, the restrictions have strangled the
U.S. economy and sparked widespread production cuts, layoffs and
projections of a severe recession.
Starbucks Corp SBUX.O fell more than 2% in premarket
trading as the coffee chain forecast a 47% drop in
second-quarter earnings due to a loss in sales. Exxon Mobil XOM.N , Chevron CVX.N , Marathon Oil MRO.N
and Apache Corp APA.N rose between 2.5% and 12.3% ahead of a
meeting of the world's biggest oil producers to discuss
production cuts. O/R
However, the negotiations are complicated by internal
disagreements and the reluctance of the United States, the
world's biggest shale producer, to make cuts of its own.
Despite a 10.5% surge so far in the holiday-shortened week,
the S&P 500 is still down about 19% from its mid-February record
high and volatility is expected to remain high heading into the
first-quarter earnings season.
Walt Disney Co DIS.N jumped 6.7%, leading gains among Dow
.DJI components, as the company said its Disney+ streaming
service had attracted more than 50 million paid users globally.
At 7:32 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 122 points,
or 0.52%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 19.75 points, or
0.72% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 52 points, or
0.63%.