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U.S. stock futures were generally higher Thursday, one day after a tech-led rally on Wall Street.
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 The number of initial jobless claims fell by almost 100,000 to 1.31 million in early July, but the pace of layoffs is still quite high more than three months after the coronavirus pandemic began and appears to be bogging down a frail economy recovery.
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 Shares of Moderna Inc. gained 0.5% in premarket trading on Thursday after the drugmaker announced another manufacturing deal for its still investigational COVID-19 vaccine. As part of the deal, Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Rovi , based in Madrid, will handle commercial fill-finish manufacturing of the vaccine candidate for use outside of the U.S. The company's vaccine candidate has not yet proven that it can protect against the coronavirus; however, drugmakers in the U.S. are moving forward with manufacturing plans often with the financial support of the U.S. government to speed up the vaccine development process. Moderna has announced several manufacturing deals for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, including with Catalent Inc. and CordenPharma. Moderna's stock has gained 214.8% since the start of the year, while the S&P 500 is down 1.8%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 Dow futures point to lackluster stock-market open as jobless claims decline
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 (Bloomberg) -- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. plans to cut about 4,000 jobs in the U.K. following a sharp drop in its business there and suspend stock buybacks, as the coronavirus pandemic jolts its business around the world.On Thursday, Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens said it anticipates full-year adjusted earnings between $4.65 to $4.75 a share, including $1.03 to $1.14 a share of costs related to Covid-19. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting $5.43 a share. Walgreens had previously withdrawn its financial forecasts, citing the turmoil caused by the coronavirus.Drugstores are grappling with both short-term disruptions and potential longer-term changes in consumer behavior driven by Covid-19. Before the pandemic set in, Walgreens was already facing questions about how it planned to compete with rivals focusing on health care and internet giants sizing up the pharmacy business.Now, the playing field has changed once again, as the global spread of Covid-19 continues to alter both the health care and retail industries in unpredictable ways.Shares of Walgreens, which had dropped 28% so far this year through Wednesday, declined as much as 4.9% in premarket trading in New York.Foot traffic plummeted 85% in April at the company's Boots stores in the U.K. amid strict lockdown orders, resulting in a $700 to $750 million hit to total sales that forced Walgreens to record a $2 billion impairment charge. Overall, sales in the quarter, which ended May 31, were essentially flat compared wi
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Noble Energy Inc. said Thursday it funded about $100 million in investments in the second quarter, even as it cut costs in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The Houston, Tx.-based oil and natural gas exploration and development company delivered 350 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d) in the quarter, including 248 MBoe/d from U.S. onshore. The company's cost-cutting measures delivered record low unit production costs of $6.61 per BOE. It reduced general and administrative costs to $63 million, down 40% from the same period a year ago. Despite the significant impact on global economies from COVID-19, "we've materially reduced the cost structure of our business, while demonstrating robust production capacity in both our onshore and offshore businesses," Chief Executive David Stover said in a statement. Noble will report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 7. Shares rose 1.6% premarket, but are down 64% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has fallen 1.9%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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European stocks advanced on Thursday, heading higher after two days of losses as one of the Continent's biggest technology companies said its recovery was surprisingly strong.
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 U.S. legacy airlines with lackluster employee demand for early exit packages face large furloughs in the fall, signaling higher post-pandemic labor costs because union contracts require airlines to furlough in reverse order of seniority. This could create a competitive boost for budget carriers including Southwest Airlines, whose lower cost structure could help it win market share with cheaper fares, experts said. With no quick recovery in sight, United Airlines said Wednesday it was sending 36,000 furlough warnings to union workers, nearly half its staff, after having received only 3,700 volunteers for early exit deals.
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 National General shares surge 65% on news of $4 billion acquisition by Allstate
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‘At best, the company's stance is irrelevant to these particular siblings. At worst, these positions are a key reason for their support.'
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 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett's $2.9 billion gift this week means he has now given away Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares valued at more than $37 billion since 2006.His philanthropy -- along with Berkshire's underwhelming stock performance recently -- is finally starting to weigh on his net worth after years where his fortune defied his annual giveaways to rise ever higher. Buffett's $68.6 billion is enough for eighth-place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his lowest position since the index started in 2012. He ranked in the top 5 as recently as June.But in recent weeks the 89-year-old has been leapfrogged first by Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft Corp. chief executive officer, and this week by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The changes underline the extent to which technology fortunes now dominate the upper echelons of the world's richest people.Six of the seven richest people on the planet owe their wealth to the sector, including No. 1 Jeff Bezos, who has added $68 billion to his net worth this year, and Ballmer, who's gained $18 billion. Tech fortunes are the best performing on the index, up 25% in 2020.Ballmer's fortune has soared thanks to the 4% stake he's estimated to have retained since leaving Microsoft's board in 2014. The software company's shares have risen almost fivefold since then, boosting his fortune to $76.5 billion. Ballmer declined to comment on his Microsoft stake. Berkshire didn't respond to a request for comment.Buffett may welcome signs his gifts are
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Not near the ocean, please.
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