S&P 500 Futures Higher Ahead of May's Private Payrolls Numbers
New York (June 1) Stock futures pointed to a mostly higher open on Thursday ahead of a monthly reading on private payrolls to be released before the opening bell.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.05%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.02%, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.13%.
The ADP Employment Report, out before Thursday's opening bell, should give investors a hint of what to expect ahead of Friday's official U.S. jobs report. The nonfarm payrolls report for May is expected to demonstrate continued strength in the labor market with 175,000 jobs expected to have been added in May. The unemployment rate is forecast to hold at 4.4%, according to FactSet estimates. Hourly earnings are anticipated to have risen 0.2% in May.
Friday's jobs report could color investors' expectations for the pace of rate hikes for the rest of the year. The Federal Open Market Committee, the decision-making arm of the Federal Reserve, is next set to meet June 13-14. Markets already have high expectations for an interest-rate increase at the next meeting of the FOMC, the second of three expected hikes this year. Wall Street has priced in a nearly 89% chance of a 25-basis-point increase to the federal funds rate when the FOMC meets, according to CME Group fed funds futures.
U.S.-based employers announced 51,692 job cuts in May, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That number is 41% higher than April's job cuts of 36,602. Nearly 40% of those were at Ford (F) , though retailers lead the pack for the year.
The economic calendar in the U.S. on Thursday also includes the PMI Manufacturing Index for May, productivity and costs for the first quarter, construction spending for April, and the EIA Petroleum Status Report for the past week.
All benchmark indexes posted gains over May. It was the S&P 500's second month of gains in a row and its best month since February. The Nasdaq fared even better, and has risen for seven months in a row.
Sourcve: TheStreet
