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* Futures up: Dow 0.3%, S&P 0.4%, Nasdaq 0.6%
By Devik Jain
Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures climbed on
Thursday as expectations of more pandemic aid under a
Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress lifted the mood ahead of jobs
data, which is expected to show a rise in weekly claims.
The Labor Department's report is expected to show the number
of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose to 800,000
last week, likely due to increased restrictions to keep the
spread of coronavirus infections in check. The data is due at
8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT).
The more comprehensive jobs report for December is expected
on Friday.
After a dour start to the week, financials and industrial
stocks powered the Dow and the S&P 500 to all-time highs on
Wednesday in hopes that some of President-elect Joe Biden's
policies could speed up a vaccine-driven recovery from the
steepest downturn in decades. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC , dominated by FAANG stocks
that had led Wall Street's rally from the pandemic lows, closed
lower on fears that some of them could face antitrust scrutiny.
The Congress on Thursday formally certified Biden's election
victory, hours after hundreds of President Donald Trump's
supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on
American democracy that briefly hit markets. At 06:40 a.m. EST, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 82 points,
or 0.27%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 14 points, or 0.37%,
and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 74.5 points, or 0.59%.
Bank of America Corp BAC.N , Citigroup Inc C.N , JPMorgan
Chase & Co JPM.N and Goldman Sachs GS.N continued to climb
in pre-market trading as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield
hovered near 1%. US/
Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 2.9% and was
set for a record open after RBC Capital Markets upgraded its
stock rating to "sector perform". U.S.-listed shares of German biotech firm CureVac NV
CVAC.O surged 20% after it struck an alliance with drugmaker
Bayer BAYGn.DE to help it seek regulatory approval for its
experimental COVID-19 vaccine and distribute doses.