US pre-open: Futures little changed ahead of key jobs report

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were little changed ahead of the bell on Thursday as market participants patiently awaited last month's all-important non-farm payrolls report. As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.11%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.07% and 0.08% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed just 10.52 points lower on Wednesday, doing little to impact gains recorded in the previous session.

Today's primary focus will likely be June's nonfarm payrolls report at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see a drop from 139,000 in May to 110,000 last month, while the unemployment rate was predicted to tick higher from 4.2% in May to 4.3% in June.

Donald Trump's megabill will also be in focus on Thursday after finally passing the Senate on Tuesday and returning to the House for a final vote.

Elsewhere on the macro front, weekly jobless claims data from the Labor Department will be published at 1330 BST, as will May's goods and services trade balance figures, while last month's S&P Global services PMI will follow at 1445 BST, and the ISM's services PMI and May factory orders numbers will follow at 1500 BST.

Trading will come to a halt at 1800 BST on Thursday and will remain closed on Friday in observance of the Independence Day holiday.





Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com