Futures at record high ahead of monthly employment data By Reuters

By Devik Jain

(Reuters) – Futures tracking Wall Street’s main indexes scaled new highs on Friday, as investors counted on more economic stimulus to ride out a pandemic-led downturn ahead of the crucial jobs report.

The U.S. government data is expected to show labor market recovery slowed sharply in December, likely due to surging COVID-19 cases across the country.

The closed above 3,800 points for the first time on Thursday as expectations of a bigger fiscal package and infrastructure spending under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration sparked demand for financial, industrial and material stocks.

The Dow and the Nasdaq are on track for fourth straight weekly gains even as Congressional Democrats on Friday weighed impeaching President Donald Trump for a second time, two days after his false claims of election fraud helped encourage a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol.

At 06:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 96 points, or 0.31%, and E-minis were up 60.75 points, or 0.47%.

Among individual stocks, Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:) rose 4.5% after the chipmaker forecast second-quarter revenue above estimates as a global shift to remote work and a recent uptick in 5G smartphone adoption drove demand for its chips.

U.S.-listed shares of Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:) jumped 5.2% on plans to form a company to make smart electric vehicles, according to two sources familiar with the matter.