S&P 500 futures were little changed on Thursday as weak private payrolls data raised the stakes for Friday’s official jobs report. A big drop Salesforce weighed on Dow futures sentiment. Futures tied to the broad market index and Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 35 points, or about 0.1%, bogged down by a 5% fall in Salesforce shares on the heels of the software company posting a disappointing revenue outlook. The ADP private payrolls report showed an increase of 54,000 in August. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected private employers to add 75,000 jobs. The figure is also less than the revised 106,000 in July. The reaction was limited as investors reasoned that the recent ADP data was weak enough for the Federal Reserve to justify a September rate cut, but not soft enough to herald a recession. Traders increased their bets that the central bank would cut on Sept. 17, with fed funds futures trading following ADP’s report now indicating a 97.4% chance of a rate cut, per CME Group’s Fedwatch tool. That’s up from 96.6% a day ago. Meanwhile, jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 30 increased to 237,000. That number came in above estimates and marked an 8,000 gain from the prior week, providing more evidence of slowing in the labor market. Those reports come ahead of Friday’s big jobs report, which is expected to post a 75,000 nonfarm payrolls gain for last month, according to economists polled by Dow Jones. Wall Street is coming off a mixed session. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted solid gains thanks to tech. On the other hand, the blue-chip Dow, known for its greater exposure to the real economy, dipped 0.05%. The bifurcated performance follows strong gains for Alphabet and Apple shares, which bolstered the tech sector, after the Google parent avoided a breakup in an antitrust case that had weighed on the stocks. However, any gains in the equity market were curbed by further signs of weakness in the labor market. On Wednesday, job openings data revealed that listings fell to levels rarely seen since the height of the pandemic. “I do expect those pressures to gain momentum over the end of this year, but I doubt we have a meaningful problem for the market rally until after the holidays,” Lauren Goodwin, chief market strategist at New York Life Investments, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Wednesday. “The reason is that I think there’s still time for the price pressures — for example, ‘no hire, no fire’ economy — to really weigh on what has otherwise been a fairly constructive picture,” Goodwin added. Traders are also turning their eyes to Washington for the latest on trade, after President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to quickly rule on an appeal that would overturn lower court decisions that deemed most tariffs illegal. Those on Wall Street will additionally be eyeing the release of August’s ISM non-manufacturing PMI reading, due out at 10 a.m. ET. Economists are expecting a reading of 50.8, up from 50.1 in the prior period. Treasury yields continued to dip on Thursday as investors digested more weak data on the labor market. The benchmark 10-year Treasury was down 4 basis points to 4.18%. The 2-year Treasury yield was also down 2 basis points at 3.60%. The 30-year Treasury rate fell 3 basis points at 4.86%. One basis point equals 0.01% and yields and prices move in opposite directions. On Wednesday, the 30-year yield briefly topped 5% before pulling back on weaker jobs data later in the day. Asia-Pacific markets mostly closed higher Thursday following a tech rally overnight on Wall Street that lifted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, even as growing fears around the economy weighed on equities. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed 1.53% higher at 42,580.27, as domestic tech stocks gained, led by SoftBank Group, which advanced over 6%. The broader Topix index increased 1.03% to close at 3,080.17. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark climbed 1% to 8,826.5. The country’s household spending in July rose 0.5% month on month, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi index closed 0.52% higher at 3,200.83, and the small-cap Kosdaq added 1.08% to 805.42. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index pared earlier gains to end the trading session 1.12% lower, closing at 25,058.51, while the mainland’s CSI 300 retreated 2.12% in volatile trading at 4,365.21. Oil prices dipped on Thursday, extending the more than 2% decline of the previous session, as investors awaited a weekend meeting of OPEC+ where producers are expected to consider another increase in output targets. Brent crude fell 43 cents, or 0.6%, to $67.17 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude shed 44 cents, or 0.7%, to $63.53 a barrel. Gold prices declined on Thursday, pulling back slightly from a record high as investors locked in profits, while attention shifted to key U.S. jobs data for further insight into the Federal Reserve’s policy path. Spot gold fell 0.4% to $3,542.97 per ounce. U.S. gold futures for December delivery dipped 0.9% to $3,601.40. Spot gold hit a record high of $3,578.50 on Wednesday amid rising bets for a U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut and lingering geopolitical and economic uncertainties. “The market was way overbought and needed to correct,” StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell said.