Stocks Edge Up Pre-Bell as Investors Await Key Jobs Report Before Independence Day

07:33 AM EDT, 07/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity markets were marginally trending upwards before the opening bell Thursday as traders await the national employment situation report for June.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were each slightly in the green in premarket activity, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. The Dow closed the previous trading session lower, snapping a four-day winning streak, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished higher.

Most US markets will close at 1 pm ET on Thursday, ahead of the Independence Day holiday on Friday.

The nonfarm payrolls report for last month is scheduled to be released at 8:30 am. Government data is expected to show that the US economy added 110,000 jobs in June, which would mark a drop from the 139,000 gain posted for the previous month, according to a Bloomberg poll.

On Wednesday, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported that the US private sector unexpectedly lost jobs in June amid hesitancy among employers to hire and replace departing workers. Challenger Gray & Christmas reported that US job cuts totaled 47,999 last month, down 2% year on year and plunging 49% sequentially.

US Treasury yields were heading downwards in premarket action, with the two-year rate retreating 2.9 basis point to 3.76% and the 10-year rate dropping 3.6 basis points to 4.26%.

Thursday's economic calendar also has the weekly jobless claims bulletin, the international trade in goods and services report for May, as well as the purchasing managers' index composite final report from S&P Global (SPGI) and the Institute for Supply Management's services index, both for June. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is slated to speak at 11 am.

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's key tax and spending bill on Thursday, CNBC reported. House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly said he has the backing to get the legislation passed by Friday.

Trump on Wednesday announced a trade deal with Vietnam, which agreed to pay a 20% tariff rate on goods sent into the US and a 40% duty "on any transshipping." The US will sell its products into Vietnam at "zero" tariffs, Trump said in a social media post.

High and broad-based tariffs are likely to stay since they're proving to be successful in raising revenue, Oxford Economics said in a client note emailed Thursday to MT Newswires. "Given the fiscal challenges that lie ahead, those revenues will be hard for future administrations to replace," according to the economic advisory firm.

Shares of Datadog (DDOG) jumped 9.2% pre-bell after it was announced that the software maker will be joining the S&P 500 next week, a move that Wedbush Securities said validates the company's continued growth in offering observability through monitoring and scanning.

Synopsys (SNPS) gained nearly 6% while Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) advanced 5.8% as the US lifted export restrictions on chip design software to China, according to Reuters.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil dipped 0.2% to $67.33 a barrel before the open. Commercial crude stockpiles in the US unexpectedly increased last week as motor gasoline and propane and propylene inventories grew, while oil prices jumped as Iran reportedly suspended cooperation with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. The weekly Baker Hughes domestic oil-and-gas rig count is out at 1 pm.

Gold inched up 0.1% to $3,365 per troy ounce, while bitcoin grew 0.3% to $109,817.

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