Wall Street hovers near record highs ahead of new jobs numbers
Wall Street was largely unchanged early Thursday, hovering near record levels ahead of new U.S. jobs data that is expected to show unemployment ticked up to the highest rates since late 2021.
Futures for S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average each inched up less than 0.1% before the bell. Markets are closed Friday for the July 4 holiday.
Treasury yields edged lower ahead of the highly anticipated June jobs report from the Labor Department. Economists believe that hiring slowed again last month as President Donald Trump's trade wars, federal hiring freeze and immigration crackdown squeezes the American job market.
Economists project that U.S. employers added 117,500 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, which would be the highest since October 2021. However, it's still low enough to suggest that most American workers continue to enjoy job security.
Also coming Thursday is a separate report from Labor that will show how many people applied for jobless benefits last week. The report is considered a proxy for layoffs.
Though the job market is broadly healthy by historical standards, it appears increasingly under strain as employers contend with fallout from Trump's policies, especially his aggressive tariffs.
Tariffs raise prices for businesses and consumers alike and the vast majority of economists believe they make the economy less efficient by reducing competition. They also invite retaliatory tariffs from other countries, hurting U.S. exporters and potentially driving businesses to freeze hiring or cut staff.
Many of Trump's stiff proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, but they're scheduled to kick into effect next week. Unless Trump reaches deals with other countries to lower the tariffs, economists fear they could hurt the economy and worsen inflation.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Germany's DAX and Paris' CAC 40 each ticked up 0.1%, while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.4%.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225, which fluctuated between gains and losses during the day, added 0.1% to 39,785.90. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 1.3% to 3,116.27, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% to 8,589.80.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.6% to 24,069.94. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.2% to 3,460.15.
Taiwan's TAIEX gained 1.3% while India's Sensex rose 0.2%. Vietnam's VN Index shed earlier gains, slipping 0.2%.
Benchmark U.S. crude lost 14 cents to $67.31. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 21 cents to $68.90.
The dollar traded at 143.85 Japanese yen, up from 143.65 yen. The euro was at $1.1793, up from $1.1790.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 set a record for the third time in four days and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down less than 0.1%.
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