(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged higher in the early hours of Thursday after the House of Representatives passed a bill to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling.
The bill to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling on Wednesday passed with majority support from both Democrats and Republicans and will now head to the Senate, which must enact the measure before a Monday deadline, when the government is expected to run out of money to pay its bills.
“The bill now moves to the Senate, where we believe it will clear the 60-vote hurdle after some political and procedural posturing,” analysts at BTIG said.
At 5:41 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 7 points, or 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 3 points, or 0.02%.
Even after the passage of the bill, trading remained in a narrow range as investors focused on economic indicators, which will set the tone for the U.S. Federal Reserve and provide more details on the impact of its aggressive interest rate-hiking cycle on the economy.
The ADP National Employment Report later in the day is expected to show private payrolls likely increased by 170,000 jobs in May, after 296,000 additions in April.
This will arrive before the Labor Department’s closely watched May jobs report, due on Friday, which could decide whether a rate hike occurs.
The likelihood of a 25-basis point increase at the Fed’s June 13-14 policy meeting fell to about 37% after comments by the central bank officials, who were leaning toward a momentary pause in hikes. [FEDWATCH]
Comments from Fed Governor and vice chair nominee Philip Jefferson and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker on Wednesday pointed to their inclination toward a rate hike “skip”.
Among early movers, Salesforce Inc shares fell 5.5% in premarket trading after posting its slowest pace of revenue growth in 13 years.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
