US STOCKS-Wall St rally set to pause as jobs growth slows, eyes on election result

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* Tech heavyweights head lower after sharp weekly gains
* Biden takes narrow lead in key states of Georgia,
Pennsylvania
* Wall Street's main indexes track best week since April
* Futures off: Dow 0.06%, S&P 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.58%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Susan Mathew
Nov 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
take a breather on Friday after surging more than 7% this week
as monthly payrolls data underlined the scale of the economic
challenge awaiting America's next president.
Democrat Joe Biden took a narrow lead over President Donald
Trump in the battleground states of Georgia and Pennsylvania on
Friday, edging closer to winning the White House in a
nail-biting contest as a handful of undecided states continue to
count votes. The Labor Department's closely watched report showed U.S.
employers hired the fewest workers in five months in October in
the absence of new fiscal stimulus and as daily COVID-19
infections set new records in the United States. U.S. stock index futures trimmed some losses as the number
of new jobs added beat economists' forecasts, but S&P 500
e-minis EScv1 were still down 0.26% by 9:06 a.m. ET. Dow
e-minis 1YMcv1 and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 shed 0.06% and
0.58%, respectively.
"The market has been up so much this week, it's due for a
break," said Christopher Grisanti, chief equity strategist at
MAI Capital Management in Cleveland.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX is on course for its best week
since April, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC has jumped 6.5%
since the Nov. 3 election as the prospect of a policy gridlock
in Washington eased worries about tighter regulations on
companies.
Matt Sherwood, head of investment strategy at Perpetual in
Sydney, said markets had already moved to price in a Biden
presidency and a divided Congress.
"We can get all of the good things about a Biden presidency,
such as stable leadership and foreign policy, without any of the
bad things from the far Left of his party, such as taxation," he
said.
Technology mega-caps including Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Facebook Inc FB.O and Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O edged lower in premarket trading after logging strong
gains this week.
While a fiscal stimulus package is still widely expected
post-election, the size of a deal reached in a divided Congress
is likely to be smaller than it would be under a Democrat-led
Congress. That could pressure the Federal Reserve to ease
monetary policy further, analysts said.
The central bank on Thursday kept its loose monetary policy
intact and again pledged to do whatever it can to sustain an
economy crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cannabis-related stocks, which have been identified by
analysts as potential winners under a Biden administration, were
set to extend sharp gains from Thursday.
Coty Inc COTY.N jumped 14.4% as the cosmetics maker beat
analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue, while T-Mobile US Inc
TMUS.O gained 5.7% after adding more phone subscribers than
analysts had expected in the third quarter. Electronic Arts Inc EA.O slumped 7.1% after the video game
maker fell short of quarterly sales estimates. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
S&P 500 five day periods after presidential elections https://tmsnrt.rs/3k3IwQr
USA-JOBS-UNEMPLOYMENT-PARTICIPATION interactive https://reut.rs/39ER8aX
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