US STOCKS-Wall St set to open lower on rising virus cases, elevated jobless claims

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* Weekly jobless claims higher than expected
* Carnival Corp falls after warning of annual loss
* Futures down: Dow 0.91%, S&P 0.72%, Nasdaq 0.18%

(Adds quote, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
June 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures fell on Thursday as
an uptick in COVID-19 infections in parts of the United States
threatened to upend bets of a swift economic recovery, with data
showing that weekly jobless claims remained elevated.
Several U.S. states including Texas, Florida and Oklahoma
have reported a surge in new infections. However, President
Donald Trump said late on Wednesday the United States would not
close businesses again. "Without a vaccination or solution to this healthcare
problem, it's going to continue to create economic problems even
though the data has probably bottomed in the United States and
China," said Nate Fischer, chief investment strategist of
Strategic Wealth Partners, in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Labor Department's report showed initial claims for
state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.508
million for the week ended June 13, the eleventh straight weekly
drop. "It's off a very low base, so the numbers have done better
than expected, but the risk-reward profile right now is not that
favorable given how far we have run off the bottom," Fischer
said.
The S&P 500 .SPX is about 8% below its February all-time
high, while the Nasdaq .IXIC is about 1.7% below a June 10
peak.
At 9:05 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 239 points,
or 0.91%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 22.25 points, or
0.72% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 17.5 points, or
0.18%.
Carnival Corp CCL.N fell 7.9% in premarket trading after
reporting a quarterly net loss of $4.4 billion and warning of a
loss for the rest of the year after the pandemic brought its
cruise business to an effective standstill. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N and Norwegian Cruise
Line Holdings Ltd NCLH.N dropped 4.5% and 5.1%, respectively.
U.S. supermarket chain Kroger Co KR.N shares fell 1.3%
even as it said it expected to exceed its 2020 outlook for
same-store sales and profit after beating Wall Street targets
for quarterly results.