US Stock Futures Steady As Traders Eye Jobs Data: Markets Wrap

US equity futures held firm as traders await June’s payrolls report on Thursday and navigate how trade talks develop ahead of the Trump administration’s July 9 deadline.

Contracts for the S&P 500 ticked higher 0.1% after the US benchmark paused its record-breaking rally during the previous session. Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. European equities advanced 0.5%, while Asian stocks edged lower.

As the US continues talks with key trading partners, Trump has turned up pressure on Japan and reaffirmed he won’t delay his tariff deadline, now just a week away. While markets swung wildly on trade headlines in April, equity indexes are now signaling diminished concern with stocks near record highs.

Data so far this week has affirmed the resilience of the US economy in the face of Trump’s tariff agenda. Tomorrow, the monthly payrolls report will offer investors fresh insight into the labor market and the path of interest rates.

Trump’s warning to Japan “is a non-event,” said Karen Georges, equity fund manager at Ecofi in Paris. “The next two possible catalysts for the markets will be the jobless claims and the deadline for tariff negotiations.”

The stocks of US banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. rose in premarket trading after boosting their dividends. Wall Street’s largest lenders passed this year’s Federal Reserve stress test, with regulators softening some requirements set in previous years.

US Treasuries retreated across the curve as investors pared bets on the size of interest rate cuts for the rest of the year, with the 10-year yield rising four basis points to 4.28%. 

Swaps now imply about 63 basis points of Fed policy easing by year-end, down from 67 basis points on Tuesday before data unexpectedly showed that US job openings rose to the highest since November.

• Banco Santander SA agreed to buy Banco Sabadell SA’s UK unit for £2.65 billion ($3.64 billion), a deal that will make it the UK’s third-largest lender by some measures.

• Centene Corp. shares tumbled more than 20% in premarket trading after the health insurer pulled its 2025 guidance, citing market trends that veered from its assumptions.

• Stellantis NV’s US deliveries fell 10% in the second quarter even as sales of its key Jeep and Ram brands improved, showing the beleaguered automaker is making some progress in its slog to recapture lost share.

• KKR & Co. has agreed to buy Spectris Plc in a deal that values the UK maker of precision and testing equipment and software at about £4.1 billion ($5.6 billion), surpassing an earlier bid by a consortium led by Advent.

• Worldline SA hired an external firm to go through its portfolio of risky clients as the payments firm seeks to restore trust following media allegations that it turned a blind eye to fraud pummeled its share price.

• SoftBank Group Corp.’s $6.5 billion acquisition of semiconductor designer Ampere Computing LLC is facing a potentially lengthy probe by the US government.

• Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd. shares plunged as much as 26% in Sydney after group chief executive officer of the Brisbane, Australia-based company will step down after just one year in the role.

• Greggs Plc shares plunged after it said its full-year profit may be lower than last year as high temperatures in June discouraged people from eating out.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.5% as of 10:43 a.m. London time

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%

• Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed

• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%

• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1%

• The MSCI Emerging Markets Index was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%

• The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1772

• The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 144.18 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1672 per dollar

• The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.3697

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $107,646.04

• Ether rose 1.5% to $2,451.12

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.28%

• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 2.64%

• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.51%

Commodities

• Brent crude rose 0.8% to $67.66 a barrel

• Spot gold was little changed