*
U.S. weekly jobless claims fall; layoffs jump in March
*
Non-farm payrolls data due on Friday
*
Alphabet up on report Google to add Chat AI to search
*
AMC jumps as court order hinders stock conversion plan
*
Futures down: Dow 0.05%, S&P 0.11%, Nasdaq 0.38%
(Updates prices throughout; adds details, comments)
By Ankika Biswas and Amruta Khandekar
April 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set
to open lower on Thursday as a stronger-than-expected weekly
jobless claims report pointed to growing signs that rapid
interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve was slowing down
economic growth.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits stood at
228,000 last week, a fresh Labor Department report showed, much
higher than economists' projection of 200,000 in the latest
week.
The latest report adds to evidence of a cooling labor market
after weak data on private payrolls and job openings earlier
this week fueled hopes of a pause in rate hikes.
"The last strongholds of the economy are beginning to weaken
and that signals recession," said Peter Cardillo, chief market
economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
"The labor market is beginning to weaken and that's
basically playing into the hands of the Fed."
Fed fund futures are indicating a 62.5% chance of the U.S.
central bank pausing its rate hikes in May and a 51.3% chance of
a rate cut at its July meeting, according to CME Group's
Fedwatch tool.
All eyes will now be on the report on non-farm payrolls,
which are expected to have increased by 239,000 in March, down
from the 311,000 jobs added in the prior month.
At 8:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 17 points,
or 0.05%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4.5 points, or
0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 50.25 points, or
0.38%.
Major technology and growth stocks such as Apple Inc , Tesla Inc and Nvidia Corp fell
between 0.9% and 1.5% in premarket trade.
Bucking the trend, Alphabet Inc rose 0.8% on
report that Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said the
company plans to add conversational artificial intelligence
features to its search engine.
The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq are on
track to notch weekly declines for the first time in four weeks.
The U.S. stock market will be shut on Friday for the Good
Friday holiday.
Remarks by St. Louis President James Bullard on the economy
and monetary policy, later in the day, will also be parsed for
clues on the Fed's policy.
A slew of major U.S. banks will kick off the first-quarter
earnings season for big-ticket companies next week, providing
investors more insight into the health of corporate America.
Among major stock moves, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc jumped 13.6% after a U.S. court denied the theater
operator's request to lift a status quo order necessary for its
stock conversion plan. The preferred APE stock dropped
11.1%.
Levi Strauss & Co fell 3.9% after the apparel maker
posted a fall in quarterly profit.
Retailer Costco Wholesale Corp shed 3% on weak comparable sales in March. (Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Arun Koyyur)
