US STOCKS-Futures rise as tech stocks gain ahead of weekly jobless claims data

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* Futures up: Dow 0.01%, S&P 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.85%

By Devik Jain
April 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on
Thursday as technology shares, led by chipmakers, gained
following an upbeat earnings outlook by Micron, while investors
awaited weekly jobless claims data to gauge the pace of a
recovery in the labor market.
Micron Technology Inc MU.O rose 4.3% after the chipmaker
forecast fiscal third-quarter revenue above Wall Street
estimates due to higher demand for memory chips, thanks to 5G
smartphones and artificial intelligence software. U.S.-listed shares of rival Taiwan Semiconductor TSM.N
added 2.3% on its plan to invest $100 billion over the next
three years to meet the rising chip demand. Nasdaq 100 futures NQcv1 jumped 0.9% as "high flying"
stocks including Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Facebook Inc FB.O ,
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O added between 0.6%
and 1.1% after underperforming last month on concerns over
elevated valuations.
The S&P 500 hit a new intraday high, but stopped short of
touching 4,000 points for the first time on Wednesday as
President Joe Biden's unveiled a $2 trillion-plus plan to
rebuild the world's largest economy.
Biden's "American Jobs Plan" would put corporate America on
the hook for the tab as the government creates millions of jobs
building infrastructure, such as roads, tackles climate change
and boosts human services like care for the elderly.
Meanwhile, official data is likely to show that the number
of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits slipped last
week. It comes ahead of the closely-watched monthly jobs report
on Friday that could show U.S. economy added 647,000 jobs last
month after February's 379,000 rise.
U.S. stock markets will be shut on Good Friday.
At 06:38 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 3 points, or
0.01%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 10 points, or 0.25% and
Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 110.75 points, or 0.85%.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N slipped 1.1% premarket after the
drugmaker said it had found a problem with a batch of the drug
substance for its COVID-19 vaccine being produced by Emergent
Biosolutions. Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N rose nearly 2% after
Jefferies began coverage on the ride-hailing company's shares
with "buy" and said the company could be profitable soon.