US STOCKS-Wall St set to rise on stimulus hopes as jobless claims stay elevated

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* Trump says talks ongoing for fiscal stimulus
* Weekly jobless claims fall slightly but remain elevated
* IBM jumps on infrastructure services unit's spin-off plan
* Futures up: Dow 0.68%, S&P 0.62%, Nasdaq 0.82%

(Adds comment; updates share prices)
By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Devik Jain
Oct 8 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
rise for a second straight day on Thursday as bets of a
piecemeal fiscal stimulus deal lifted sentiment, while data on
weekly jobless claims showed the labor market recovery continued
to sputter.
Two days after calling off negotiations on a comprehensive
fiscal aid bill, U.S. President Donald Trump said some
discussions were ongoing with Democrats about boosting support
for U.S. airlines and providing Americans with $1,200 stimulus
checks. Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N , American Airlines
Group Inc AAL.O , United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL.O and
JetBlue Airways Corp JBLU.O jumped between 1.9% and 2.3% in
premarket trading.
"The market's really dependent upon (fiscal) stimulus and
trying to predict what that'll likely be," said Tim Chubb, chief
investment officer at Girard in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
"It is also getting a better understanding of how the
election will turn out and what that means for the amount of
fiscal stimulus."
Doubts about more fiscal aid and signs of a slowing domestic
economic rebound halted a five-month gaining streak on Wall
Street in September, but U.S. stocks have since recovered,
partly as investors begin to digest the prospect of Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden winning the Nov. 3 election.
Biden appeared to lead Trump among likely voters in Florida
and the two were locked in a tight race in Arizona, according to
Reuters/Ipsos opinion polls released on Wednesday. With less than a month left for the election, Trump said on
Thursday he would not participate in a virtual presidential
debate, moments after the commission that oversees the debates
said the event on Oct. 15 would be conducted from remote
locations in the wake of his COVID-19 diagnosis. Meanwhile, data showed the number of Americans filing new
claims for jobless benefits drifted lower last week but signaled
the labor market was making little headway in getting millions
of people back on the job after being out of work due to
COVID-19 disruptions. L1N2GY1AZ
At 8:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 193 points, or
0.68%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 21 points, or 0.62%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 93.5 points, or 0.82%.
In company news, Coty Inc COTY.N jumped 6.9% after the
cosmetics maker announced the launch of direct-to-consumer
websites for Kylie Skin brand in the UK, France, Germany and
Australia. Drugmakers Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN.O and Eli
Lilly & Co LLY.N gained 4.0% and 2.0%, respectively, after
Trump praised their COVID-19 medications and said he will make
them free for Americans to use. International Business Machines Corp IBM.N surged 9.5%
after saying it was splitting itself into two public companies,
capping a years-long effort by the world's first big computing
firm to diversify away from its legacy businesses to focus on
high-margin cloud computing. Eaton Vance Corp EV.N surged 47% after Morgan Stanley
MS.N agreed to buy the asset management firm for about $7
billion in a cash-and-stock deal. Shares of Morgan Stanley fell
1.7%. With the third-quarter earnings season kicking off next
week, analysts expect earnings at S&P 500 companies to have
dropped about 21% in the quarter from a year ago, according to
IBES data from Refinitiv.