Editor’s Note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs, the lede, and the latest economic releases were updated in the story.
U.S. stock futures were swinging on Thursday following Wednesday’s mixed moves. Futures of major benchmark indices were mixed.
U.S. private employers added just 54,000 jobs in August, marking a slowdown in hiring momentum, even as second-quarter productivity was revised sharply higher to a 3.3% gain, helping to hold unit labor costs to a modest 1% increase. At the same time, the trade gap widened sharply in July to $78.3 billion, up from $59.1 billion in June, as imports jumped by $20 billion while exports barely grew
The initial jobless claims rose to 237,000 in the week ending Aug. 21, above the 230,000 consensus forecast.
The Donald Trump administration filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking for an expedited review after a federal appeals court declared last week that the president had overstepped his authority.
“If we don’t win that case, our country is going to suffer so greatly, so greatly,” Trump said to reporters at the White House on Wednesday. He added that the tariffs were critical to trade agreements negotiated with major allies, including the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, in recent months.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.20% and the two-year bond was at 3.60%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 97.5% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.08% |
| S&P 500 | 0.14% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.21% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.06% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.078% at $644.24, while the QQQ advanced 0.14% to $570.88, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session
Most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with industrials, energy, and materials stocks recording the biggest losses on Wednesday. However, communication services and information technology stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher and leading U.S. stocks to a mixed settlement, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 1%.
Shares of Alphabet Inc. Class C (NASDAQ:GOOG) jumped over 9% after a U.S. court issued remedies in the DOJ antitrust case that were less severe than feared. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) gained about 4% as the ruling preserves a lucrative revenue stream. Campbell’s Co. …