By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen drifting at the open Thursday, after lawmakers bought themselves more time to negotiate a new coronavirus relief package.
At 06:55 AM ET (1155 GMT), the Dow futures contract rose 42 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures traded 2 points, or 0.1%, higher, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 17 points, or 0.1%.
The House of Representatives passed a one-week government funding extension late Wednesday. This allows the federal government to keep running until the end of next week, and thus buys Congress more time to try and come up with a compromise that would result in a new stimulus deal to help the Covid-battered economy.
U.S. lawmakers have been debating for months about the size and scope of a broader spending package, and confidence has been rising that some form of a compromise can be made. So far the two sides have been unable to sort out disagreements over aid to state and local governments.
More than 3,000 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded in the United States on Wednesday, for the first time, with almost 223,000 cases recorded, also a daily record.
On a more positive note, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant emergency use authorization for the Pfixer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine later Thursday, starting the likely months-long program to vaccinate the U.S. population.
Over in Europe, the European Central Bank is expected to provide fresh monetary stimulus at its council meeting, with the announcement due at 7:45 AM ET (1245 GMT).
In the corporate sector, the IPO market will remain in the spotlight as Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) starts trading after its flotation. The home-sharing site said late on Wednesday it sold shares at $68 a piece, above its targeted price range, to raise around $3.5 billion.
Doordash (NYSE:DASH) had a stellar debut on Wednesday, as the food delivery company’s stock surged to $182, 80% above its IPO price.
There’s an abundance of economic data due for release Thursday, with, in particular, inflation figures and jobless claims expected at 08:30 AM ET and a monthly budget statement at 2 PM ET.
Oil prices rose Thursday, despite a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude stocks, on increased confidence a fairly prompt rollout of Covid-19 vaccines will spur a rebound in demand next year.
Crude Oil WTI Futures traded 1.3% higher at $46.14 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 1.5% to $49.47. Both benchmarks have fallen this week, after previously posting five consecutive weeks of gains, but remain near nine-month highs.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,839.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.2088.