US STOCKS-Futures quiet as a torrid first quarter winds down

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* Futures: Dow down 0.04%, S&P off 0.12%, Nasdaq up 0.2%

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By Uday Sampath Kumar
March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were steady on
Tuesday at the end of one of Wall Street's worst first quarters
on record, with evidence growing of the scale of damage caused
by the collapse in oil prices and business activity due to the
coronavirus.
Sliding from the record highs of mid February, the Dow Jones
and S&P 500 indexes are now set to end the quarter more than 18%
lower from the start of the year as the health crisis deepens in
the United States and disrupts supply chains.
The declines have set the benchmark S&P 500 on track for its
worst first quarter since 1938, down more than $5 trillion in
market value, and investors fear corporate defaults and more
mass layoffs going in to the second quarter.
The blue-chip Dow is set for its biggest quarterly
percentage decline since 1987 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is set
to close out its worst first three months of the year since
2008.
Confidence in equity markets has crept back in the past
week, thanks to an unprecedented $10 trillion global monetary
and fiscal stimulus, but Wall Street's indicator of future
volatility .VIX is still close to levels last seen in 2008.
"The sentiment pendulum has swung between extremes over the
past few months, placing investors on an emotional rollercoaster
ride as monetary policy bazookas and handsome fiscal packages
have struggled to lift global confidence," said Lukman Otunuga,
senior research analyst at FXTM.
A surprise expansion in China's March factory activity
injected optimism about a potential recovery for U.S. businesses
once sweeping stay-at-home orders are lifted and the economy
comes back online. "For now markets are continuing to look for the positives,
while at the same time equities are still seeing inflows,"
wrote Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG in London.
At 06:59 a.m. EDT, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 9 points,
or 0.04%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 3.25 points, or
0.12% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 15.75 points, or
0.2%.
Shares of cruise operators and airlines, which are among the
most battered as the coronavirus outbreak brought global travel
to a standstill this month, rose about 5% to 6%.
The S&P 1500 Airlines index .SPCOMAIR has lost over half
its value since the start of the year.
Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N rose over 3% on a
rebound in oil prices from 18-year lows after the United States
and Russia agreed to discuss stabilizing energy markets. O/R
Investors have so far largely shrugged off figures showing
the extent of the economic damage from the statewide lockdowns.
Consumer confidence data for March, due at 10 a.m. ET, is likely
to drop to a reading of 110 from 130.7 a month earlier.