US pre-open: Wall Street futures in the green ahead of ADP payrolls report

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Wednesday, as investors weighed the prospect of a year‑end rally and awaited key jobs data ahead of the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy decision. As of 1210 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.22%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.20% and 0.15% firmer, resepcetively.

The Dow Jones closed 185.13 points higher on Tuesday, rebounding from heavy losses in the previous session.

Investors continued to weigh the prospect of a year‑end rally on prior to the open on Wednesday, with December trading historically supportive for major indices after a weak November marked by profit‑taking in big name stocks.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's 10 December policy meeting, with corporate earnings optimism underpinning sentiment.

Today's primary focus will likely be November's non-farm payrolls figures from ADP at 1315 GMT, with the report likely to have greater importance than usual in the absence of Fridays official jobs report.

Rostro's Joshua Mahony said: "The justification for a rate cut next week centres around weakness in the jobs market and therefore markets are likely to take a 'bad news is good news' approach. The CME are currently pricing an 87% chance of a rate cut on Wednesday, and the 5K job creation figure anticipated today would likely embolden calls for the Fed to take action.

"While we are seeing confidence return for the US tech stocks, fears around an AI bubble will undoubtedly play a key role for investors going forward. Therefore, valuation fears will likely remain, driving investors towards increased diversification into different sectors, geographies, and assets classes."

Elsewhere on the macro front, mortgage applications fell by 1.40% in the week ended 28 November, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, more than reversing the prior week's 0.2% increase despite an eight basis point reduction in benchmark mortgage rates. Applications to refinance a mortgage fell 4.4% week-on-week, while applications to purchase a home rose 2.5%.

Still to come, September import/export price indexes were slated for release at 1330 GMT, September capacity utilisation and industrial production figures were slated for release at 1415 GMT, while November's S&P Global and ISM services PMIs will follow at 1445 GMT and 1500 GMT, respectively.

In the corporate space, Dollar Tree, Macy's amd Foot Locker will report earnings prior to the open, while Salesforce will issue its latest quarterly earnings after the close.







Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com