ADP report ahead, Musk's xAI seeks to raise $1 billion - what's moving markets
Investing.com -- Markets are awaiting the release of more labor market data on Wednesday, as investors attempt to gauge if the Federal Reserve may soon start to retreat from a period of aggressive policy tightening. Elsewhere, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up xAI looks to raise $1 billion from investors, while Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) boss Jensen Huang says that the AI semiconductor manufacturer is working closely with the U.S. to develop chips that comply with Washington's curbs on exports to China.
1. Futures point higher
U.S. stock futures edged into the green on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to private payrolls data later in the session that could give more clues into the Federal Reserve's future monetary policy decisions.
By 04:41 ET (09:41 GMT), the Dow futures contract had added 27 points or 0.1%, S&P 500 futures had risen by 10 points or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had gained 54 points or 0.3%.
The main indices on Wall Street were mixed on Tuesday, as markets digested fresh Labor Department figures showing that job openings in the U.S. dipped to their lowest mark in over two years in October. The numbers pointed to a cooling in labor demand, bolstering the case for the Fed to possibly begin backing away from a long-standing campaign of interest rate hikes.
The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average and benchmark S&P 500 shed 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively, weighed down by energy stocks, while a jump in most of the Magnificent Seven big-name tech shares pushed the Nasdaq Composite up by 0.3%. U.S. Treasury yields, which typically move inversely to prices, also dipped.
2. ADP payrolls ahead
A week of major labor market data releases is set to roll on, with attention now turning to a closely-watched
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