(Reuters) – Futures tracking the Dow and the S&P 500 edged higher on Wednesday after Salesforce posted robust quarterly results, while investors awaited private jobs and factory activity data for cues on the strength of the U.S. economy.
Shares of Salesforce jumped 8.6% in premarket trading after the enterprise software firm raised its full-year adjusted profit outlook and said it did not see any material impact from the uncertain broader economic environment.
The ADP report, due at 08:15 a.m. ET, is expected to show U.S. private payrolls rose by 300,000 jobs last month, after rising by 247,000 in April. Construction spending data and ISM manufacturing purchasing managers’ index reading for May is scheduled to be released after market opens.
The data comes ahead of the closely watched nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, which will provide more insights into how the jobs market is faring amid a labor crunch and rising costs.
Investors will also parse comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard and New York Fed President John Williams, due to speak later in the day, for clues on the timeline of monetary policy tightening.
Hawkish comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller and higher oil prices sapped risk appetite on Tuesday, with Wall Street’s three major indexes closing lower following a rally last week.
Uncertainty about the U.S. central bank’s policy move, the war in Ukraine, prolonged supply chain snarls due COVID-19 lockdowns in China and higher Treasury yields have rocked stock markets, with the benchmark S&P 500 index down 13.3% year-to-date.
At 6:33 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 100 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.06%, while the Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 14.75 points, or 0.12%.
Warner Bros Discovery fell 1.9% after Britain’s competition watchdog said it had started investigating BT Group’s deal to combine its sports broadcasting business with the media and streaming firm.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
