Investing.com – U.S. stock futures were little changed in holiday-thin trading late Thursday, with focus turning directly to key non-farm payrolls data for more clues on interest rates.
While markets were closed for the Independence Day holiday, Wall Street indexes hit record highs set earlier in the week as a slew of weak economic data boosted bets that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in September.
But some hawkish signals from the Fed offset this view to some extent.
It was steady at 5,588.50 points but was down 0.1% at 20,387.25 points as of 19:16 ET (13:16 GMT). It rose slightly to 39,655.0 points.
Nonfarm payrolls data awaits more clues on interest rates
Wall Street is expected to remain subdued ahead of key data releases on Friday.
The data is expected to show a cooling in the job market throughout June and comes after a series of weaker-than-expected labor market data this week.
But as the labor market continues to strengthen, nonfarm payrolls data have unexpectedly risen in seven of the past nine months. The trend has investors wary ahead of Friday’s data release.
A sufficient cooling of the labor market is a key consideration for the Fed to cut interest rates – something that has not yet materialized.
Wall Street hits record high on hopes of rate cut
But even with caution ahead of the non-farm payrolls data, Wall Street indexes hit record highs on Wednesday as bets grew that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in September.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 5,537.02 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 18,188.30 points. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.1% to 39,308.0 points.
The weak data, coupled with weak data, has increased hopes that the U.S. economy is cooling, giving the Federal Reserve enough confidence to begin cutting interest rates.
The report showed traders saw a 66.3% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut in September, down from 68.4% a day earlier but up from 59.5% last week.
Rate cut bets cooled slightly after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting showed policymakers still need to make more progress in reducing inflation before cutting rates. Some Fed officials have also called for further interest rate increases.
