US STOCKS-Futures muted ahead of jobless claims data, AT&T rises after results

U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Thursday as investors assessed earnings from companies, including Southwest Airlines and AT&T, while awaiting weekly jobless claims data for clues on the pace of recovery in the U.S. labor market. Shares of AT&T Inc gained 1% in premarket trading after the company's wireless subscriber additions trounced analysts' estimates.

U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Thursday as investors assessed earnings from companies, including Southwest Airlines and AT&T, while awaiting weekly jobless claims data for clues on the pace of recovery in the U.S. labor market.

Shares of AT&T Inc gained 1% in premarket trading after the company's wireless subscriber additions trounced analysts' estimates. Southwest Airlines Co posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly adjusted loss and forecast lower cash burn in the second quarter. The airline's shares, however, fell 1.7%.

Wall Street's main indexes closed higher, recovering from a two-day decline in the previous session with the economically sensitive value stocks gaining about 1.1%. Speedy vaccination rollouts in the United States has improved the pace of economic recovery, infused confidence among people and given a solid start to the first-quarter earnings season.

The U.S. economy will grow at its fastest annual pace in decades this year and outperform most of its major peers, with the outlook upgraded sharply, but another COVID-19 surge was the biggest risk over the next three months, a Reuters poll showed. Meanwhile, official data is likely to show that the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week.

At 6:39 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 3 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 3.25 points, or 0.08%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 12 points, or 0.09%. Chipmaker Intel Corp is expected to post a drop in first-quarter revenue later in the day, with analysts looking forward to updates on its U.S. manufacturing plants and chips for automakers amid a global microchip supply shortage. Its shares rose 0.3% in premarket trading.

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