US Stock Futures Slip Ahead of ADP Jobs Report, Retailers Disappoint

New York (Jan 5)  Stock futures moved slightly lower on Thursday morning as investors awaited a reading on the U.S. labor market.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.08%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.02%, and Nasdaq futures declined 0.17%.

The ADP National Employment Report for December, to be released before the opening bell, will highlight the health of the U.S. labor market before the official U.S. jobs report on Friday. The Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report, the most closely watched piece of data of each month, is expected to continue to showcase strength. In November, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6% to 4.9% and the U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs.

The Dow again tried and failed to capture its 20,000 milestone on Wednesday. The blue-chip index came within 50 points of the milestone late in the day on Wednesday. The Dow rallied in the final two months of 2016 as investors placed bets that a Donald Trump administration would yield higher infrastructure spending.

Crude oil moved higher on Thursday on hopes that U.S. inventories data would show a decline. The weekly reading on domestic crude supplies will be released mid-morning. Prices have ebbed and flowed this week as an output cut agreement among Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other non-OPEC producers took effect.

West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.86% to $53.72 a barrel on Thursday.

Macy's (M) plummeted 10% in premarket trading after detailing plans to close 68 stores, resulting in 3,900 job layoffs. The retailer also said the store closures would reduce fiscal 2017 sales by $575 million. CEO Terry Lundgren said the company continues to suffer from "declining traffic" in the stores where it sees the majority of its business.

Source: TheStreet