US STOCKS-Wall St set to edge higher as weekly jobless claims improve

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* Pfizer, Merck rise on supply deals for their COVID-19
treatments
* Futures up: Dow 0.26%, S&P 0.25%, Nasdaq 0.10%

(Adds comment; updates share prices)
By Devik Jain and Ambar Warrick
Dec 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street indexes were set to rise on
Wednesday as investors shrugged off President Donald Trump's
threat to not sign a $900 billion COVID-19 stimulus package,
while weekly jobless claims came in better than feared.
In a video posted on Twitter, Trump said the hard-fought
pandemic relief package worth $892 billion should be amended to
increase the amount in the stimulus checks to $2,000 for
individuals, instead of the "ridiculously low" $600.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department's weekly report showed the
number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless
benefits fell last week, but figures remained at elevated levels
as widespread business restrictions to curb the spread of new
COVID-19 infections kept employers on edge. A separate report showed consumer spending fell last month
for the first time since April, due to weakness in the job
market. A reading earlier this week had also shown consumer
confidence at a four-month low in December.
"There's this conflict between the immediate term, where
economic conditions are likely to get worse, but longer term,
things should improve quite a bit. The stimulus also helps
bridge that gap," said Chuck Lieberman, chief investment officer
of Advisor Capital Management in New Jersey.
At 8:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 78 points, or
0.26%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 9.25 points, or 0.25% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 12.5 points, or 0.1%.
The S&P 500 and the Dow lost ground on Tuesday as concerns
over a new variant of the coronavirus in Britain and
underwhelming economic data weighed on near-term sentiment. But
gains in Apple Inc AAPL.O pushed the technology-heavy Nasdaq
to a record-high close.
"Technology is going to be a major driver of growth, but at
the same time there's better value in the value segment of the
market, and that's especially true if the vaccine enables the
economy to recover," Lieberman added.
Easy monetary policy, increased liquidity in the market and
positive COVID-19 vaccine data has set Wall Street's main
indexes for strong annual gains, despite a rough start to the
year.
Drugmaker Pfizer Inc PFE.N rose 0.8% in pre-market trade
after it announced a deal to supply the United States with 100
million additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by July next
year. Merck & Co Inc MRK.N also added 0.5% following its own
deal with the U.S. Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc SUPN.O jumped 22.0% after its
experimental drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
met the main goal of a late-stage study in adults. Walmart Inc WMT.N fell 0.3% after the U.S. Justice
Department accused the retailer of fuelling the opioid crisis in
the United States. American Airlines Group AAL.O and United Airlines Holdings
UAL.O fell 0.1% each, as they both outlined plans to bring
back furloughed employees this month. The airline industry is
set to receive about $15 billion in government support.