DJIA futures up 28 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 03 Jul - US futures were trading sideways ahead of another batch of jobs data in a curtailed trading session ahead of Independence Day.

Wall Street reached new highs yesterday after comments from the Federal reserve chief on inflation and a surge in Tesla's share price after stronger-than-expected second quarter deliveries.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to close above 5,500 for the first time ever while the tech-heavy Nasdaq also set an all-time high, rising 0.8% to close above 20,000.

The stock market was lifted by comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledging inflation had slowed in recent months even if he cautioned the central bank still wanted to see more evidence easing was sustainable in time before pivoting on monetary policy.

The remarks were interpreted by many as indicating the Fed may now be open to cutting interest rates sometime this year.

Stubborn inflation has led the central bank to put back the timetable for easing its policy and prompted traders to recalculate their expectations for the number of rate cuts this year.

Investors will be keeping a watchful eye today on weekly jobless data and the ADP employment change reading for June ahead of Friday's key employment report.

Jobs are key to the debate about when the Fed can start cutting interest rates and whether it will be able to engineer a soft landing - taming inflation without triggering a recession.

Treasury yields meanwhile are steady after climbing this week on a growing perception Trump is likely to win the US elections later this year following the poor showing by President Biden in the TV debate.

On the stocks front, Paramount shares surged 12% in premarket trade after Skydance Media reached a preliminary agreement to buy National Amusements and merge with the studio. Tesla was up another 2.5% after its 10% gains yesterday on deliveries data.

Markets close early today and will remain closed on July 4 for Independence Day.

Futures on the Dow Jones were up 28.00 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.25 points, or virtually unchanged, while futures on the Nasdaq were 2.75 points, or 0.01%, lower.

AAA-Sje

(RADIOCOR) 03-07-24 13:42:48 (0387) 5 NNNN