US pre-open: Futures mixed ahead of June non-farm payrolls data

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the open on Thursday as market participants looked ahead to the release of key employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of 1240 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.16%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.04% and 0.38% softer, respectively.

The Dow closed 13.96 points lower on Wednesday as the blue chip index retreated from its record high.

Thursday's primary focus will be June's jobs report at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see non-farm payrolls drop from 172,000 to 110,000 and the unemployment rate hold steady at 4.3%.

Elsewhere on the macro front, weekly jobless claims from the Labor Department will also be published at 1330 BST.

In the corporate space, Europe's top court upheld Google's €4.1bn fine for anti‑competitive practices linked to its Android mobile operating system on Thursday. The European Commission imposed the penalty in 2018, arguing that Google parent company Alphabet had abused its dominance in mobile software by requiring smartphone makers to pre‑install its apps, giving the company an unfair advantage. Google appealed through the EU courts, but the European Court of Justice dismissed the challenge, confirming the reduced €4.1bn figure set by a lower court in 2022, down from the original €4.34bn.

No major earnings were slated for release on Thursday.





Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com