Stock futures were unchanged in night trading Thursday as the future remained uncertain for additional fiscal stimulus.
The futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained around 50 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures have hardly changed.
The overnight action followed consecutive losses for the S&P 500 as negotiations over a coronavirus relief contract dragged on. Legislators are trying to get a bill passed before the lifelines expire in late 2020, but disagreements still persist over state and local incentives, unemployment benefits and incentive controls.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s staff briefed Congress officials that Senate Republicans were unlikely to support a bipartisan $ 908 billion proposal, according to NBC News. Earlier Thursday, House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said bipartisan negotiations were “making great strides”.
“The tenor of the Capitol Hill headlines about stimulus sounded slightly better than Mon-Wed, but there is still no sign of a breakthrough,” said Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, in a note Thursday.
The House passed a week-long extension of federal spending to avoid closing it until December 18 and to gain more time for a business cycle agreement.
The Dow and S&P 500 are down 0.7% and 0.8% respectively this week, the pace of their first negative week in three. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% over the same period and is facing its first week of losses in four years.
Without fresh impetus, millions of Americans could lose unemployment benefits in the New Year. Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims rose to 853,000 last week, the highest since Sept. 19, as new lockdown restrictions weighed on businesses amid rising coronavirus cases.
Elsewhere, a key advisory body recommended the Food and Drug Administration approve Pfizer and BioNTech’s emergency coronavirus vaccine. The recommendation was the final step before the FDA grants final approval to widely distribute the first doses in the United States
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