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(Reuters) – Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the Dow dipped on Friday as fears over rising coronavirus infections and fading stimulus threatened to further hamper a slowing economic revival from a pandemic-induced downturn.
Nasdaq futures rose 0.1% as investors returned to technology stocks that have shown resilience during the pandemic. Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) edged higher premarket.
In a surprise move on Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said key COVID-19 pandemic lending programs at the Federal Reserve to support businesses and local governments would expire by the end of the year.
The decision to end the program, which was deemed essential by the central bank, comes as data showed a rise in jobless claims last week as new business restrictions to control spiraling coronavirus infections unleashed a fresh wave of layoffs.
California and Ohio imposed nightly curfews on Thursday, joining 20 U.S. states to have adopted new mandates to fight the spread of the virus this month.
The S&P 500 and the Dow are little changed over this week following two strong weeks of gains, as investors juggled between growing optimism over an effective coronavirus vaccine and near-term economic damage from the surging virus cases.
At 6:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 67 points, or 0.23%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 5 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 14.25 points, or 0.12%.
Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) rose 1.8% premarket as the company said it has applied to U.S. health regulators for emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Apparel and home fashion retailer Ross Stores Inc (NASDAQ:ROST) gained 3.4% after its quarterly sales topped expectations.
