Wall Street appeared ready to open slightly higher on Thursday, with futures pointing to early gains fueled by a surprisingly strong June jobs report and renewed optimism around international trade.
Pre-market momentum gained traction after the U.S. Labor Department reported that non-farm payrolls grew by 147,000 last month, exceeding economist projections of 110,000. This figure also beat May’s revised tally of 144,000 jobs, which was previously estimated at 139,000.
The unemployment rate showed unexpected improvement, dipping to 4.1% from May’s 4.2%. Analysts had forecast a modest increase to 4.3%.
The upbeat labor data suggests resilience in the U.S. job market, but it could also complicate the Federal Reserve’s path toward cutting interest rates in the short term, which might dampen some investor enthusiasm.
With U.S. markets scheduled for an early close ahead of the Independence Day holiday, trading activity is expected to remain somewhat muted later in the session.
On Wednesday, major indexes closed mostly higher. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 bounced back from Tuesday’s dip and ended the day at new all-time highs. The Nasdaq rose 190.24 points, or 0.9%, to 20,393.13, while the S&P 500 added 29.41 points, or 0.5%, to 6,227.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 10.52 points, a fractional decline that left it at 44,484.42.
The positive mood was boosted by news from former President Donald Trump, who announced a trade agreement with Vietnam via his Truth Social account. According to Trump, the agreement imposes “a 20 percent tariff on goods sent to the U.S. and a 40 percent tariff on any transshipping.”
He continued, “In return, Vietnam will do something that they have never done before, give the United States of America TOTAL ACCESS to their Markets for Trade.”
“In other words, they will ‘OPEN THEIR MARKET TO THE UNITED STATES,’ meaning that, we will be able to sell our product into Vietnam at ZERO Tariff,” Trump said.
This development helped counterbalance disappointing data from payroll company ADP, which revealed private-sector job losses in June. According to the report, U.S. businesses cut 33,000 jobs, compared to a downwardly revised gain of 29,000 in May. Forecasts had predicted an increase of 95,000 positions.
Despite that miss, sector-specific gains drove markets higher. Steel companies saw notable strength, pushing the NYSE Arca Steel Index up 4.3% to its highest close in seven months. Hardware stocks also surged, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index gaining 2.5%.
Meanwhile, energy, airline, and semiconductor shares posted solid gains, while utility and healthcare stocks lagged behind the broader rally.
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