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Paramount jumps on report of Skydance Media deal

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Tesla extends gains

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ADP, jobless claims data on deck

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Futures: Dow up 0.11%, S&P 500 and Nasdaq flat

(Updated at 7:09 a.m. ET/1109 GMT)

By Ankika Biswas and Lisa Pauline Mattackal

July 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little

changed on Wednesday ahead of a holiday-shortened trading

session, while markets also geared up for a slew of economic

data and minutes from the Federal Reserve's June policy meeting

for more direction.

The equity market will close early on Wednesday and stay

shut on Thursday on account of U.S. Independence Day, keeping

trading volumes thin throughout the week.

The ADP National Employment report and weekly jobless claims

are due before the opening bell, a day after data showed higher

U.S. job openings as well as layoffs in May. This also comes

ahead of Friday's closely watched non-farm payrolls data.

"Our view remains that we should see a slowing down of the

employment data over the coming months. If employment slows and

the disinflation trend is intact, Fed will deliver a September

rate cut," Jefferies chief Europe economist Mohit Kumar wrote.

Market participants see a 65% chance of the first rate cut

in September, and around two cuts by year end, as per LSEG's

FedWatch data.

The other data points on the watch list include factory

orders and services PMIs after markets open, along with the

Fed's June meeting minutes at 2 p.m. ET.

Gains in Tesla and megacap stocks helped the Nasdaq

and the S&P 500 to close at record highs on Tuesday, a

day that also saw Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledge the

"disinflationary path," while also flagging the need for more

data before cutting interest rates.

"A 25-bps cut may not make much difference to the economy,

but if the Fed is proactive, then no one can blame Powell for

not doing his job by keeping rates higher for longer and

engineering a slowdown," Jefferies' Kumar added.

Tesla rose 2.7% premarket after hitting its highest

level since January on Tuesday following a smaller-than-expected

drop in second-quarter vehicle deliveries.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) slipped 0.6%, in a recent choppy run for the

AI chip leader after its staggering gains since 2023, even when

other semiconductor stocks held their ground on the day.

Other megacaps Alphabet, Microsoft ( MSFT ), Meta

Platforms ( META ) and Amazon ( AMZN ) inched up between 0.2%

and 0.6%.

As the S&P 500 has jumped over 15% in the first half of

2024, largely supported by top-tier high momentum

technology-related stocks, the benchmark index's equal-weighted

counterpart only rose 5%, signaling the lack of a

broad-based market strength.

At 7:09 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 42 points,

or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.5 points, or 0.03%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.01%.

Among other premarket movers, Paramount Global ( PARAA )

jumped 11.7% after Shari Redstone's National Amusements reached

a preliminary deal to sell its controlling interest in the media

giant to David Ellison's Skydance Media.