S&P 500 futures lost steam Wednesday after a new report showed private payrolls surprisingly decreased in June, raising concern over the state of the U.S. economy. Futures linked to the broad market index reversed course and slipped 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.4%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 30 points, or 0.1%, also giving up most of their earlier gains. The private sector lost 33,000 jobs last month, according to the latest report by ADP. That marks the first monthly decline in ADP’s payrolls report since March 2023. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected payrolls to grow by 100,000. The report comes with the stock market near record highs despite concerns that lingering trade tensions between the U.S. and other countries could slow U.S. and global economic growth. To be sure, the ADP report has a lackluster record predicting the government’s monthly jobs report, which is due out Thursday. Economists expect growth of 110,000 jobs for June. The market may also be taking some solace in growing expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut later this month. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool shows a roughly 23% chance of the central bank lowering rates at its July meeting, up from 20% a day before. “We, frankly, have been seeing a weakening of the labor market for months and months now, and I always wondered if it would take a negative payrolls print to get the Fed to pay a little bit more attention to the labor market as opposed to the inflation picture,” Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird, told CNBC. “This is, on that front, what will hopefully catch some attention.” Wall Street is coming off a mixed session, with the Dow surging 400 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower after a broad decline in tech shares. The Dow got a boost as investors rotated into materials and health care stocks. Traders also kept an eye on President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday. The measure returns to the House, where there are still hold-outs among GOP lawmakers. “We expect to see more volatility in fixed income, even once they get the bill passed, whatever that looks like,” said Jose Rasco, HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Americas CIO on “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “That’s going to bleed over into the equity markets.” Still, this turbulence is likely to be short-lived, he said. “Once these things get resolved and once the [Federal Reserve] gets back in gear, there’s a lot of upside here,” Rasco said. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose on Wednesday as investors digested weak data for the jobs market and weighed the impact of President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending package, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday. The 10-year yield rose about 3 basis points to 4.281%. The 30-year bond yield was up about 4 basis points at 4.825%. The 2-year note yield fell almost 2 basis points to 3.76%. Singapore stocks hit a record high on Wednesday amid mixed trading in the Asia-Pacific region, as investors digested the latest comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Singapore equities climbed 0.45% to a record high of 4,008.85 points Wednesday afternoon, data from LSEG showed. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slid 0.56% to close at 39,762.48, and the Topix lost 0.21% to 2,826.04. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.47% lower at 3,075.06 while the Kosdaq declined 0.19% to 782.17. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.66% to end the trading day at 8,597.7. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.73% while the mainland CSI 300 was flat at 3,943.68. Oil futures edged up on Wednesday as Iran suspended cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog and markets weighed expectations of more supply from major producers next month while the U.S. dollar softened further. Brent crude added 60 cents, or 0.9%, to $67.71 a barrel at 1017 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 55 cents, or 0.8%, at $66 a barrel. Brent has traded between a high of $69.05 a barrel and low of $66.34 since June 25, as concerns of supply disruptions in the Middle East producing region have ebbed following the ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Gold prices inched lower on Wednesday as investors held back from placing big bets ahead of U.S. jobs data that is expected to shed more light on the Federal Reserve’s policy path. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $3,333.45 per ounce at 0901 GMT. U.S. gold futures were 0.2% lower at $3,344.10. “Market participants have not adjusted their expectations of more rate cuts this year in the U.S. in recent weeks,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS. “We still think debt level concerns, ongoing pressure on the Fed to adjust their rates and weaker U.S. economic data will support the price of gold.”
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