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S&P 500 futures were little changed as investors readied for Friday’s closely watched jobs report.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials slid 26 points, or 0.1%, to 39,610.
Futures for the much-broader index eked up 0.25 points at 5,590.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite advanced 23 points, or 0.1% to 20,434.50.
The three major indexes are on track to finish the holiday-shortened trading week up. The NASDAQ gained 2.5% and S&P 500 has climbed more than 1.4% in the week. Both closed at all-time highs and notched new intraday records on Wednesday. The Dow has lagged this week, adding around 0.5%
Markets in the U.S. were closed for Independence Day.
Those moves come as traders geared up for the widely monitored labour data due Friday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones are forecasting nonfarm payroll adds of 200,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4%. They also expect hourly wages to climb 0.3% from May for an annualized gain of 3.9%.
The report comes as traders consider the latest economic data pointing to softening in the economy — and what it means for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decisions going forward.
ADP figures released Wednesday showed less private payroll growth than anticipated in June, while weekly jobless claims came in higher than economists forecast. On top of that, a reading of the service sector from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly indicated a contraction.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.28 points Friday, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.3%.
Oil prices edged up 0.01 cents to $83.89 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gathered $4.90 to $2,374.30
