Stocks looked set to rise on Wednesday, although the moves were likely to be muted with investors still trying to make sense of the delayed jobs data that were released during the previous trading session.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 35 points, or 0.1%. Contracts tied to the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were also up 0.1%.
Tuesday’s jumbo jobs report showed unemployment rose to 4.6% in November, the highest level since 2021. Still, the U.S. added 64,000 nonfarm jobs last month, above what economists were expecting. The mixed batch of data means investors are struggling to figure out whether the Federal Reserve will have scope to continue cutting interest rates in early 2026.
“The report on the whole again paints a picture of a stalling labour market, where both hiring and firing remain subdued,” Michael Brown, strategist at the foreign-exchange brokerage Pepperstone, wrote. “That, clearly, keeps further Fed cuts on the cards, possibly as soon as the January meeting depending on what the December jobs report, due early-2026, looks like.”
The sense of uncertainty could build. Chip maker Micron is due to report its fiscal first-quarter results after the close, which could either ease or fuel investors’ worries about bloated artificial-intelligence valuations. Policy decisions from the Bank of England, European Central Bank, and Bank of Japan will add to the noise later this week.
Oil prices were rallying Wednesday after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The Brent international benchmark rose 1.2% to $59.62 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude prices added 1.3%, to trade at $55.99 a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked up 2 basis points to 4.17%. The dollar gained 0.4% against a weighted basket of its peers, and gold futures climbed 0.3% to $4,346 an ounce.