US STOCKS-Futures tick lower as energy stocks slip

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* Futures down: Dow 0.26%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.22%

By Medha Singh
Feb 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on
Friday as energy stocks declined while investors booked profits
after a rally on bets of fiscal stimulus and a vaccine-fueled
bounce back in the economy.
Chevron Corp CVX.N , Occidental Petroleum Corp OXY.N and
Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N dipped between 0.9% and 1.2% in
premarket trading as oil prices retreated on demand fears. O/R
All three major indexes hit record highs this week and were
on course for their second straight weekly rise, as a sharp drop
in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations also buoyed hopes of
life eventually returning to normal.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Thursday the
government had bought 200 million more doses of vaccine.
A Reuters poll showed the U.S. economy is expected to reach
pre-COVID-19 levels within a year as the proposed $1.9 trillion
fiscal package helps boost economic activity, but it's likely to
take over a year for unemployment to fall to early 2020 levels.
Global finance chiefs, including U.S. Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen and members of the Group of Seven (G7) rich
nations, meet on Friday, vowing to rebuild bridges with allies
to steer the world economy out of its deep slump. At 6:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 81 points,
or 0.26%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 11.5 points, or
0.29% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 30.25 points, or
0.22%.
Largely upbeat earnings update have also supported market
sentiment. About 82% of 355 S&P 500 firms have topped analysts'
estimated for fourth-quarter profit, well above the average beat
rate of 76% over the past four quarters, per Refinitiv data.
Walt Disney Co DIS.N rose 1.2% after the company swung to
a surprise quarterly profit as "The Mandalorian" and "Soul"
lifted its fast-growing streaming business, outweighing pandemic
worries about its hobbled theme park operations. Economic data at 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) is expected to show
that a reading on the University of Michigan's consumer
sentiment index edged up to 80.8 in February from 79 in January.