The Dow was set to tip higher on Thursday but the broader market was on the verge of sinking for a third session in a row as investors awaited the latest developments in trade talks and key reports on employment and economic strength that might provide a catalyst for investors.
How are benchmarks performing?
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMU8, +0.06% rose 41 points, or 0.2%, to 26,016, while S&P 500 futures ESU8, -0.03% advanced about 2 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,890.25, and Nasdaq-100 futures NQU8, -0.08% gained 6.50 points to 7,538.25, up about 0.1%.
On Wednesday, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -1.19% saw the steepest losses among its benchmark peers, falling 96.07 points, or 1.2%, to 7,995.17, finishing below the key 8,000 mark.
The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.28% lost 8.12 points, or 0.3%, to 2,888.60, with the technology-and-internet sector slumping 1.5%, its biggest daily drop since July 30.
However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.09% bucked that downtrend, edging up 22.51 points to 25,974.99.
What’s driving the market?
Market participants awaited a private-sector payroll report that comes ahead of the more closely followed employment report, with both offering the possibility to underpin growing sentiment that the domestic economy is underpinned by fundamental strength.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and Canada continued high-stakes negotiations in the effort to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, which President Donald Trump has indicated he is prepared to move forward with Mexico and without its northern neighbor.
Those trade tensions come amid the start of a public comment on the Trump administration’s plan to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods. Reports indicated that President Donald Trump could impose the tariffs as soon as this week.
Fears about the impact of a strengthening dollar DXY, +0.01% on emerging economies also remained a key concerns for industry participants, worried about the possibility of risk factors that could more definitively hit investor sentiment.
Read: 4 reasons why big-name strategists are wrong about investing in emerging markets
What data and Fed speakers are ahead?
Automatic Data Processing private-sector employment report for August is due at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, with estimates in August for 182,000, compared with 219,000 in ADP’s July reading A report on weekly jobless claims for the period ended Sept. 1 are due at 8:30 a.m., with 212,000 claims forecast A reading on productivity for the second quarter also is slated for the same time, with a report on unit labor costs A services report from Markit for August is slated to be released at 9:45 a.m. The Institute for Supply Management report for services is scheduled for 10 a.m., with forecasts for 56.9 A report on factory orders for July also is set for 10 a. m., and a decline of 0.6% is estimated New York Federal Reserve President John Williams is on tap to deliver a speech at 10 a.m. about the regional and national economy at the University of Buffalo School of ManagementWhat are market strategists saying?
“Over the next two days focus will be on President Trump who is expected to announce another round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Going ahead with these tariffs suggest that a full-blown trade war has just kicked off and more pain will be felt across the globe. Yesterday’s big jump in the U.S. trade deficit indicates that Trump’s ‘America First’ policies are not even close to achieving his targets, suggesting that further tariffs are almost inevitable,” wrote Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM in a Thursday research note.
Which stocks are in focus?
In focus Wednesday were hearings on Capitol Hill centered on social-media platforms, with executives from Twitter Inc. TWTR, -6.06% and Facebook Inc. FB, -2.33% discussing with lawmakers their efforts to guard against fake accounts in the wake of concerns about the influence of social media on the 2016 presidential election won by Trump. Shares of Twitter were up 0.6% in premarket trade, while those for Facebook were edging 0.2% higher, after both fell sharply in the previous session.
What other assets were in focus?
Asian stock markets closed broadly lower Thursday after a tech selloff on Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei NIK, -0.41% fell 0.4%, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -0.47% finished the session 0.5% lower, while the Shenzhen Composite Index 399106, -0.72% closed off 0.7%.
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