US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher as focus turns to stimulus, corporate earnings

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* Weekly jobless claims decrease more than expected
* eBay, PayPal jumps on upbeat quarterly earnings
* Qualcomm slips as chip supply constraints hold back sales
* Futures up: Dow 0.10%, S&P 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.41%

(Adds comment, details; updates market prices)
By Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal
Feb 4 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
open higher on Thursday as investors looked to corporate
earnings and signs of progress on a pandemic-relief package
after data suggested that the labor market was stabilizing.
The Labor Department's report showed 779,000 Americans filed
new applications for unemployment benefits last week, lower than
812,000 in the prior week, as authorities started to loosen
pandemic-related restrictions on businesses. A report on Wednesday showed U.S. private payrolls rebounded
more than expected in January. The government's closely watched
and comprehensive monthly employment report is due on Friday.
The Dow Jones .DJI and S&P 500 .SPX indexes closed
slightly higher on Wednesday, with Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O
shares hitting a record high following strong quarterly results.
"You're seeing a little bit of sort of calmness or
consolidation after a big run-up a couple of days ago," said
Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth
Management in New York.
"The market is digesting earnings news and more importantly
the focus is on what type of agreement can come out of
Washington related to stimulus."
All the three major indexes have bounced back sharply this
week as investors monitored talks over the next round of fiscal
stimulus and as a recent buying frenzy driven by social media
appeared to stall following a bout of market volatility last
week.
President Joe Biden said he would consider tighter limits on
who would qualify for $1,400 checks, without compromising on the
size of the payments, as the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress
pushed ahead on a maneuver to pass Biden's $1.9 trillion
COVID-19 relief package without Republican support. Videogame retailer GameStop Corp GME.N rose 1.5%, while
cinema operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC.N fell 1.8%
in premarket trading ahead of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen's meeting with financial regulators later in the day to
discuss the recent market volatility. Concerns over heightened stock market valuations, raging
pandemic and new coronavirus variants have kept investors on
edge with attention turning towards earnings outlook from
corporate America to justify it.
U.S. companies are on track to post earnings growth for the
fourth quarter of 2020, data from Refinitiv showed on Wednesday,
which would defy expectations for profits to drop 10% due to the
pandemic. At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 31 points, or
0.1%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 7.25 points, or 0.19%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 55.5 points, or 0.41%.
A pandemic-driven surge in online shopping during the
holiday season helped e-commerce firm eBay Inc EBAY.O and
payment platform PayPal Holdings Inc PYPL.O top quarterly
earnings estimates. EBay shares jumped 9.4%, while PayPal gained
6.5%. Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O fell 7.2% after the chipmaker said
semiconductor supply constraints that have roiled the industry
contributed to first-quarter sales that slightly missed Wall
Street expectations.