US STOCKS-Lockdown easing hopes lift futures ahead of jobless claims

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* Morgan Stanley drops after profit falls
* United Airlines cuts May flights by 90%, warns of job cuts
* U.S. weekly jobless claims data due at 8:30 a.m. ET
* Futures inch higher: Dow 0.02%, S&P 0.12%, Nasdaq 0.49%

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By Medha Singh
April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher
on Thursday, as hopes President Donald Trump would ease strict
stay-at-home restrictions lifted the mood even as investors
braced for another staggering jobless claims figure.
Trump is expected to announce "new guidelines" for
re-opening the economy at a news conference on Thursday as he
said data suggested the United States had passed the peak on new
coronavirus infections. After a 27% rally from its March lows, the S&P 500 index
inched down this week and stands 18% below its record high, as
first-quarter earnings began with U.S. banks preparing for a
wave of future loan defaults following a halt in business
activity.
Economic data on Wednesday showed U.S. retail sales plunged
a record 8.7% in March, while manufacturing output dropped by
the most in over 74 years, signaling worse numbers to come as
the lockdowns continue. Economists polled by Reuters expect weekly jobless claims
likely topped 5 million last week, which would take total
unemployment claims to an astounding 20 million in the past
month. "Expectations for economic data and the current earnings
season are already extremely low (but) these figures could act
as a reminder that the global economy is facing a deep recession
and that recovery might take longer than initially expected,"
said Milan Cutkovic, market analyst at AxiCorp.
"Despite the numerous economic stimulus packages and signs
of stabilization from the Covid-19 crisis, it is still too early
for investors to relax."
Analysts forecast earnings for S&P 500 companies slumped
12.8% in the first quarter, with U.S. economic growth expected
to have contracted at its fastest pace since World War Two.
On Thursday, BlackRock Inc BLK.N , the world's largest
asset manager saw the capital it manages fall by almost $1
trillion in the quarter as investors pulled money out of its
marquee funds.
Medical equipment maker Abbott Laboratories Inc ABT.N
posted a 16% drop in quarterly profit and suspended its
full-year forecast due to uncertainty caused by the virus
outbreak. Morgan Stanley MS.N reported a 32% fall in quarterly
profit as its advisory and wealth management businesses took a
hit from the economic fallout of the pandemic. Its shares
slipped 0.9%.
At 7:47 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 4 points, or
0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 3.25 points, or 0.12% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 41.75 points, or 0.49%.
Chipmakers Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O , Intel Corp INTC.O ,
Nvidia Corp NVDA.O and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O were
up between 1.2% and 1.6% after the world's largest contract
chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC)
2330.TW reported a near doubling in first-quarter net profit.
Netflix Inc NFLX.O rose 1.9% after multiple brokerages
hiked their price targets on the stock expecting higher
subscriber growth during the lockdown.
However, United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL.O slipped 2.7%
as the carrier said it cut its flight schedule by 90% for May
and warned travel demand, now "essentially at zero shows no sign
of improving in the near term", making job cuts likely.