U.S. stock futures waver ahead of weekly jobless claims

U.S. stock futures wobbled Thursday ahead of fresh data offering insights into the health of the labor market.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 gained less than 0.1%, pointing to muted moves in the benchmark index after the New York opening bell. The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 drifted down 0.4%.

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The S&P 500 has risen over the last four trading sessions as investors bet that lawmakers will hammer out the terms of a new coronavirus-relief package. The White House on Wednesday moved to increase pressure on Democrats to get the deal done, saying they were prepared to walk away from negotiations and use executive actions by President Trump if an agreement isn’t within reach by the end of the week.

Despite lingering differences on the elements of a new relief package, investors expect the government will come through with spending plans as economic data shows signs of a stalling recovery.

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“Is Congress going to come to an agreement as soon as possible? I don’t think the market is pricing in any kind of a disappointment,” said Seema Shah, chief strategist for Principal Global Investors. “Once you take away any of the fiscal help, it puts the recovery really at risk.”

New claims for unemployment benefits for the week ended Aug. 1, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, will show whether the pace of recovery in the labor market has slowed as businesses navigate through the disruption caused by the pandemic. Applications for jobless claims remain at historically high levels after easing for months, and have recently ticked higher.

“The fact that the jobs market hasn’t picked up so fast also means there is a greater chance of this fiscal stimulus getting passed,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. “Even if the economy goes well, investors will still be asking for the Federal Reserve and the government to have their hands on the market.”

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Overnight, the mood in markets dimmed after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked American companies to consider withholding their apps from phones made by China’s Huawei Technologies, according to analysts. Mr. Pompeo also urged the companies to halt using Chinese cloud providers such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu for storing sensitive data.

Those comments are stoking concern that the U.S. push back on Chinese apps could go beyond TikTok, analysts said. The popular video-sharing service has been in the eye of a storm as Microsoft moves to buy its U.S. operations from its Chinese owner after President Trump raised security concerns about the app.

In Asia, major markets ended the day on a mixed note. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.3% by the close of trading, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.4%.

Gold gained 0.5% to $2,059.40 a troy ounce, putting its advance this year at 35% as the precious metal, considered a haven asset, continued to draw risk-averse investors.

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In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged lower to 0.536%, from 0.541% Wednesday. Yields fall when prices rise.

Among Europe equities, shares in German airliner Deutsche Lufthansa gained 3.2% after its quarterly earnings beat analysts’ expectations. German engineering conglomerate Siemens rose 2.6% after the profit from its industrial business was higher than the consensus estimates.

The British pound ticked up 0.3% against the U.S. dollar after the Bank of England held its benchmark interest rate steady and said negative interest rates may not be the right tool to spur faster activity. Policy makers projected that the U.K. economy will take until the end of next year to make up the ground lost during the coronavirus pandemic.

Corporate earnings season is set to continue, with T-Mobile US, ViacomCBS and Uber Technologies set to report Thursday.

Write to Caitlin Ostroff at caitlin.ostroff@wsj.com