* Treasuries steady, giving support to futures
* Weekly initial jobless claims expected at 8:30 a.m.
* Futures up: S&P 3.7 pts, Dow 30 pts, Nasdaq 5.75 pts
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Writes through, adds details, quote, byline)
By Leah Schnurr
NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures rose
modestly on Thursday as Treasuries steadied after a jump in
yields, while data on the labor market was expected later in
the morning.
Treasuries prices edged higher following a recent selloff
that pushed benchmark yields to six-month highs on Wednesday.
Higher bond yields make it more expensive for consumers and
businesses to borrow, a potential problem for the still-fragile
economic recovery. For details, see []
The weekly jobless claims report is on tap for 8:30 a.m.
EST (1330 GMT) and is expected to show first-time claims
improved slightly to 425,000 from 436,000 the week before.
Wholesale inventories data for October is due at 10 a.m. EST
(1500 GMT), and anticipated to gain 0.9 percent compared with
an increase of 1.5 percent the month before. []
The jobless claims data will come on the heels of last
week's larger nonfarm payrolls report that showed the economy
added far fewer jobs than expected in November.
Analysts are betting the market will rally into year-end,
though stocks may trade sideways in the short term after strong
gains since the beginning of the month.
"There's been some chit-chat in articles and on TV about
the underperformance of active managers that might want to show
a little better results. So they might be the marginal buyer
that push up the stock market," said Kim Caughey Forrest,
senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in
Pittsburgh.
The S&P 500 closed at 1,228.28 Wednesday right around a key
resistance level that represents the 61.8 percent Fibonacci
retracement of the 2007-2009 bear market slide, a key technical
indicator. Decisive gains above this level could turn it into
support for the index and open the way for more advances.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> added 3.7 points and were above fair
value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account
interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures <DJc1> were up
30 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> rose 5.75.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> were off 0.6 percent to
$62.10 before the opening bell after Wells Fargo Securities
downgraded the stock to "market perform" from "outperform."
[]
Shares of United Parcel Service Inc <UPS.N> will be in the
spotlight after its chief financial officer told a German
newspaper the package deliverer plans to woo shareholders with
a higher dividend and more share buybacks rather than use its
strong cash flow for large acquisitions. []
A compromise plan by U.S. President Barack Obama to broadly
extend tax cuts moved forward on Wednesday despite opposition
from his own Democrats. []
Stocks edged higher Wednesday as gains in financial and
technology stocks offset declines caused by a recent surge in
bond yields.
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
