US STOCKS-Wall St set for higher open on lockdown easing hopes, jobless claims

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* U.S. weekly jobless claims fall slightly
* Morgan Stanley drops after profit falls
* United Airlines cuts May flights by 90%, warns of job cuts
* Futures gain: Dow 0.40%, S&P 0.54%, Nasdaq 1.02%

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By Medha Singh and Akanksha Rana
April 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on
Thursday as weekly jobless claims fell slightly from the
previous week and on hopes President Donald Trump would push to
ease strict stay-at-home restrictions.
Latest data showed jobless claims fell slightly to 5.2
million last week from an upwardly revised 6.62 million the week
before, but the total figure for the past month still topped 20
million as the outbreak crushed business activity. "This is an awful number, but it is lower than the prior two
weeks and I do believe we have peaked," said David Bahnsen,
chief investment officer at Bahnsen Group in Newport Beach,
California.
"What the market cannot price in perfectly is when the
economy re-opens, what the nuances in that reopening will look
like and what its impact will be to corporate profits one
quarter, two quarters and a year away."
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.
Analysts estimate 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.
"There is some potential for a rebound (in the economy)
later this year and into next year, but the risks are still
predominantly to the downside," said Scott Brown, chief
economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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 beat
quarterly profit estimates, but 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 2.8%. At 8:58 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 93 points, or
0.4%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 15 points, or 0.54% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 87.25 points, or 1.02%.
Chipmakers Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O , Intel Corp INTC.O ,
Nvidia Corp NVDA.O and Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O were
up between 1.5% and 2.1% 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 1.8% 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 2.9%
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.