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Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on July 2, 2025.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Wednesday night as traders braced for June's big jobs report.
S&P 500 futures were fractionally higher, while Nasdaq 100 futures traded near flat. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 29 points, or less than 0.1%.
Earlier in the day, the S&P 500 rose 0.47% to notch a record close. The broad market index also posted a fresh all-time intraday high. The Nasdaq Composite also rallied 0.94% to a record close. The 30-stock Dow trailed behind with a narrow loss of 0.02%.
The moves followed an announcement from President Donald Trump on Truth Social that the U.S. had struck a trade deal with Vietnam, which includes a 20% tariff on imports from the country. Goods that originated in another country but were transferred to Vietnam for final shipment to the U.S. will be levied 40%.
This positive news contrasted dampening sentiment after a report from payrolls processing firm ADP released Wednesday morning showed that private sector hiring decreased by 33,000 last month.
Traders are now awaiting the Bureau of Labor Statistics' June nonfarm payrolls reading. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect that the economy added 110,000 jobs last month. That compares to May's gain of 139,000. Economists also see the unemployment rate inching higher to 4.3%, up from 4.2% in May.
If June's jobs report disappoints, the market could rotate away from more speculative technology stocks into value names, according to Jay Hatfield, founder and CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors.
"Tomorrow could be a little dicey," he told CNBC. "The tradeoff between tech stocks being down and value going up — a lot of times the overall market will go down because tech stocks are 40% of the market."
On the other hand, a disappointing report could mean that the Federal Reserve may be more keen to cut rates earlier than previously expected, possibly as early as July, Hatfield added.
Investors are also following along the progress on Trump's tax megabill, which finally passed the Senate on Tuesday. The bill has returned to the House, where negotiations among Republican lawmakers remain heated.
Thursday will be a shortened trading session, with the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq closing at 1 p.m. ET. U.S. markets are closed on Friday for Independence Day.
U.S. futures little changed after Trump’s megabill advances in the House
S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 short interest has risen steadily all year, S3 Partners says
Short interest in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 "has been rising alongside the rally, suggesting a reversal strategy — investors selling into strength, possibly as a hedge or due to skepticism about the recovery," according to a team of researchers at S3 Partners, a Wall Street firm that specializes in tracking short interest.
"Despite a 25% selloff earlier in the year followed by recovery, short interest in both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq has continued to rise steadily this year," the researchers said.
S&P 500 short interest as a percentage of total float has climbed above 5.8% from about 5.4% when the year began, while Nasdaq-100 short interest has widened to about 6.1% from less than 5.2%.
S3 noted that while the &P 500 has steadily recovered to new all-time highs, the index is only 6% higher for the year through Wednesday. "In contrast, most global markets have posted gains of 15% to 20%. Among major indices, only a few have underperformed the S&P, placing it well below the global average."
— Scott Schnipper
Shares of Tripadvisor rise on WSJ report of Starboard taking a stake
Online travel company Tripadvisor jumped after The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that activist investor Starboard Value has taken a stake of more than 9%.
Tripadvisor shares were last up more than 8% in extended trading. The stock is up 1.5% in 2025.
Tripadvisor shares in the past day
—Darla Mercado
Datadog climbs 9% in Wednesday's extended trading on addition to S&P 500 index
Shares of Datadog climbed 9% in Wednesday's after-hours session after the stock was announced as the newest addition to the S&P 500.
DDOG 5D chart
Datadog will be added prior to the opening of trading on Wednesday, July 9. The stock will replace Juniper Networks, which was acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise on July 2.
— Lisa Kailai Han
English (US)