Futures slip ahead of jobless claims report

U.S. stock index futures dipped on Thursday as investors braced for high levels of weekly jobless claims while talks in Washington over a stimulus deal dragged out.

The number of Americans filing for state unemployment benefits last week is expected to dip slightly but remain firmly above 800,000 as support from fiscal stimulus faded. The Labor Department’s data is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).

President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of being unwilling to craft an acceptable compromise for a coronavirus aid bill, despite reports of some progress earlier in the day.

It was unclear whether the negotiations would continue or go dormant until after the Nov. 3 presidential and congressional elections.

All eyes will be on the final presidential debate on Thursday night, where Trump will attempt to change the trajectory of the race that Democratic challenger Joe Biden seems to be leading in national polls.

Wall Street’s main indexes ended a volatile session slightly lower on Wednesday following conflicting reports on progress in stimulus talks.

At 06:24 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis <1YMcv1> were down or 0.17% at 28,085 and S&P 500 e-minis slipped 0.17% to 3,426.75 3426.5 points. Nasdaq 100 E-minis fell 0.18% to 11,670 points.

Tesla Inc (O:TSLA) climbed about 5% after the electric-car maker reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit on record revenue of $8.8 billion.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (N:CMG) fell 4% as it posted a drop in quarterly profit, hurt by higher beef prices, delivery costs and coronavirus-related expenses.