S&P 500 futures edged lower Wednesday on the back of cool labor data as traders geared up for a shortened session. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ticked lower by 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped just 11 points. Investors parsed stats released Wednesday morning showing softening in the labor market ahead of Friday’s all-important jobs report. ADP data showed less private payroll growth than expected in June, while weekly jobless claims numbers came in higher than economists forecast. Trading volume is likely to be light Wednesday with the New York Stock Exchange closing early at 1 p.m. ET. The exchange will be shut on Thursday for Independence Day. Minutes from the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting will be posted an hour after Wednesday’s closing bell. Paramount Global shares popped more than 15% in premarket trading. That follows reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times that Skydance Media has reached a preliminary agreement to buy National Amusements, the entertainment giant’s controlling shareholder. Tesla also rose before the bell, continuing to rally after a better-than-expected deliveries report. This put the electric vehicle maker’s stock on track for its seventh straight positive session, which would be its longest winning streak of 2024. Wednesday’s moves come a day after the S&P 500 closed above 5,500 for the first time. The Nasdaq Composite also finished Tuesday’s session at a record level. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield slipped for another session on Wednesday after weak employment data. The yield on the 10-year Treasury retreated by around 3 basis points to 4.405%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 4.745%, rising by less than 1 basis point. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Wednesday as investors assessed a slew of data from the region, while Wall Street rose overnight as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there was “progress” on inflation. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.26% to end the day at 40,580.76, extending its run above the 40,000 mark, while the broad-based Topix ended up 0.54% at 2,872.18. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.47% to end at 2,794.01, while the Kosdaq Index rose 0.75% to 836.1. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.28% higher at 7,739.9. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.14% in the final hour of trade, boosted by property stocks. Mainland China’s CSI 300 ended down by 0.24% at 3463.41. Chinese tech giant Alibaba announced Tuesday that it had repurchased a total of 613 million of its ordinary shares for a total of $5.8 billion in the quarter ending June. The company’s stock rose 2.6% on Wednesday. India’s BSE Sensex briefly crossed the 80,000 mark, reaching an all-time high. The Nifty 50 also hit an all-time high of 24,307.25. Crude oil futures held firm on Wednesday as traders waited for the latest round of U.S. inventory data for signs of whether gasoline demand is picking up. U.S. crude oil gained about 6% last month on expectations of a tighter third quarter with stockpiles forecast to draw down as summer fuel demand picked up. The Department of Energy will release the latest U.S. crude oil and gasoline stockpiles data at 10:30 a.m. ET. Gasoline prices are averaging $3.51 per gallon ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, up about 2 cents from last week, according to the motorist association AAA. West Texas Intermediate August contract: $82.86 per barrel, up 6 cents. Year to date, U.S. oil has gained 15.7%. Brent September contract: $86.32 per barrel, up 8 cents. Year to date, the global benchmark is ahead by 12%. Gold prices strengthened on Wednesday as the dollar eased after dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with investors now turning to minutes from the U.S. central bank’s latest policy meeting to gauge future interest rate cuts. Spot gold rose 0.7% to $2,344.60 per ounce. U.S. gold futures gained 0.9% to $2,354.20.