U.S. stock futures were little changed on Wednesday night, following Alphabet’s rally, which lifted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite even as growing fears around the economy weighed on equities.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 65 points, or 0.14%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.02%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.01%.
Wall Street is coming off a mixed session. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, both benchmarks made up largely of technology companies, gained 0.51% and 1.03%, respectively. On the other hand, the blue-chip Dow, known for its greater exposure to the real economy, dipped 0.05%.
The bifurcated performance follows strong gains for Alphabet and Apple shares, which bolstered the tech sector, after the Google parent avoided a breakup in an antitrust case that had weighed on the stocks. However, any gains in the equity market were curbed by further signs of weakness in the labor market. On Wednesday, the latest job openings data showed listings fell to levels rarely seen since the height of the pandemic.
“I do expect those pressures to gain momentum over the end of this year, but I doubt we have a meaningful problem for the market rally until after the holidays,” Lauren Goodwin, chief market strategist at New York Life Investments, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday.
“The reason is that I think there’s still time for the price pressures — for example, ‘no hire, no fire’ economy — to really weigh on what has otherwise been a fairly constructive picture,” Goodwin added.
Wall Street will glean more insight into the labor market Thursday. The ADP private payrolls report is expected to show a softer print. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect private employers added 75,000 jobs in August, down from 104,000 jobs previously. The latest jobless claims data is expected to show a slight uptick.
Those reports come ahead of Friday’s big jobs report, which will determine the near term outlook for a stock market that has been on edge.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/03/stock-market-today-live-updates.html