US STOCKS-Futures slip after Wall Street ends at record highs

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* Futures down: Dow 0.21%, S&P 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.18%

By Medha Singh
Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures dipped on Tuesday
as investors moved to the sidelines a day after Wall Street
closed at all-time highs with focus squarely on earnings reports
and progress in the Biden administration's $1.9 trillion
stimulus plan.
Big U.S. banks slipped in premarket trading after the banks
index .SPXBK jumped about 11% in the past seven sessions.
Heavyweight tech-focused companies Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O were also
marginally down.
Upbeat corporate earnings so far along with monetary and
fiscal support have powered the Dow .DJI and the S&P 500's
.SPX six-day run but analysts have cautioned against risks
from the new coronavirus variants and any glitches in vaccine
rollouts.
Last week's data showing slower-than-expected growth in the
labor market underscored the need for more government aid to
blunt the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The White House expects the House of Representatives to
track closely to President Joe Biden's relief plan as it marks
up its latest round of legislation but expects lawmakers will
tweak some elements. Meanwhile, The United States reported a 25% drop in new
cases of COVID-19 to about 825,000 last week, the biggest fall
since the pandemic started, although health officials said they
were worried new variants of the virus could slow or reverse
this progress. At 6:28 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 67 points,
or 0.21% and S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 7.25 points, or
0.19%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 24.25 points, or
0.18%.
Toymaker Mattel Inc MAT.O and telephone equipment maker
Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O marginally fell ahead of their
earnings after market close.
A stronger-than expected fourth quarter earnings season so
far has quelled fears of a pullback in equities owing to lofty
valuations. Analysts see fourth-quarter S&P earnings to gain
2.4%, a stark reversal from the 10.3% annual decline seen at the
beginning of the year, per Refinitiv.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc TTWO.O fell nearly 4%
after the videogame publisher posted a drop in quarterly
adjusted sales and shied away from announcing any new big
releases. Glu Mobile Inc GLUU.O jumped about 33% on a $2.4 billion
buyout offer from Electronic Arts Inc EA.O that would bolster
EA's mobile platform with the addition of games such as "Design
Home", "Covet Fashion", and "MLB Tap Sports Baseball".
Bitcoin BTC=BTSP fast approached the $50,000-mark as the
afterglow of Elon Musk-led Tesla's investment in the
cryptocurrency had investors reckoning it may become a
mainstream asset class for both corporations and money managers.
Cryptocurrency miner Riot Blockchain RIOT.O and Marathon
Patent Group MARA.O jumped 14% and 18%, respectively.