Wall Street remained quiet ahead of the highly anticipated monthly jobs report, following a shortened trading week due to the July 4th holiday.
S&P and Nasdaq futures showed little change, while Dow futures edged slightly lower as investors looked for signs of a gentle cooling-off in the labor market.
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The upcoming government tally is expected to trigger a more significant response from traders than Wednesday's ADP private payroll data, which fell to 150,000.
Economists Expect Slower Job Gains in June
Economists largely expect that net job gains in June cooled off to an estimated 190,000, representing a pullback from the net gain of 272,000 recorded in May.
In May, the US unemployment rate increased to 4%, a level not seen since January 2022, even though job growth remained strong during that month.
First-time claims for unemployment benefits have drifted higher in recent weeks, landing in line with pre-pandemic averages, according to labor economists.
Marisa DiNatale, head labor economist for Moody’s Analytics, noted that initial jobless claims are rising between the May and June payroll survey reference months.
"They’re still low, historically speaking, but they are up between the May and June payroll survey reference months, so we do think we could see some slowdown in job growth over the month," DiNatale said.
While June's job gains should remain steady, a growing chorus of economic data indicates that consumer spending is letting up and workers are feeling less secure.
