US STOCKS-Futures hold steady as investors shrug off Trump impeachment

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* Micron up 4% after signaling 2020 recovery
* Cisco rises on Barclays upgrade
* Labor Department's report on jobless claims in focus
* Futures: Dow up 0.12%, S&P, Nasdaq flat

By Uday Sampath Kumar
Dec 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were nearly flat
on Thursday as investors looked past the impeachment of
President Donald Trump, who is unlikely to be removed from
office.
On Wednesday, Trump became the third U.S. president to be
impeached, but the Republican-controlled Senate is widely
expected not to convict him. No U.S. president has been removed
from office in the country's 243-year history. The S&P 500 snapped a record-setting rally on Wednesday,
after closing at all-time highs every day for four straight
sessions on a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks and hopes
for a smoother Brexit.
But with few updates on the trade war expected before the
end of the year, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hard
line on Brexit negotiations, analysts said the market had little
incentive to keep setting new records.
Trading volumes are also expected to taper off ahead of the
Christmas holidays.
At 7:19 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 35 points, or
0.12%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up only 0.75 points, or
0.02%, while Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were nearly unchanged.
Among scant big corporate movers premarket, Micron
Technology Inc MU.O rose 3.5% after signaling a recovery in
its business in 2020 and saying it had received licenses to
supply some products to Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL .
The stock looked set to boost the Nasdaq .IXIC , which has
gained for the past six sessions as the outlook on domestic
growth stays largely optimistic following a string of
better-than-expected economic indicators.
The weekly Labor Department report on initial claims for
state unemployment benefits is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O rose 1.1% as Barclays raised its
rating on the stock to "overweight".