By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are set to continue to push higher Wednesday, as investors look past domestic civil unrest and take comfort from signs of more economic strength ahead.
At 7:10 AM ET (1110 GMT), S&P 500 Futures traded 12 points, or 0.4%, higher, Nasdaq Futures up 31 points, or 0.3%. The Dow Futures contract rose 169 points, or 0.7%.
All three cash indices are more than 30% above their first-quarter lows, with the DJIA at its highest level since March 6, the S&P 500 since March 4, and the Nasdaq Composite at its highest since Feb. 20.
Earlier Wednesday, data from the Chinese services sector showed this area of the second largest economy in the world growing at pre-pandemic levels, while there were also signs that the worst was over for euro-zone businesses.
These signs of economic growth returning, helped by a significant amount of fiscal stimulus, as the coronavirus pandemic passes its peak. That's overshadowing the continued civil unrest that has plagued many cities across America over the last few days.
Investors will now focus on ADP (NASDAQ:ADP)'s monthly employment report, a precursor to Friday’s official payrolls release, at 8:15 AM ET (12:15 GMT).
This is expected to show another 9 million jobs lost in May, a horrific figure but an improvement from the last report which showed a loss of 20.2 million from payrolls, the most in the history of the report.
In corporate news, Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) rose 5% in premarket trading after the ride-hiring firm reporting a 26% jump in rides on its platform in May from the prior month, helped by strong growth in cities where coronavirus-induced restrictions have been eased.
Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) rose 1.2% after the videoconferencing service reported a blockbuster quarter as the coronavirus pandemic fueled a boom in remote working and socializing.
Oil prices sold off Wednesday, consolidating after recent sharp gains amid doubts that the next meeting from OPEC and its allies will be able to agree a production policy for July as soon as this week, due to suspicions that some countries are already producing above their quota.
The U.S. releases official crude inventory data at 10:30 AM ET. The American Petroleum Institute’s data on Tuesday indicated a slight draw in stocks last week.
U.S. crude prices fell 1.6% to $36.24 a barrel, while Brent Futures rose as high as $40.52 a barrel before falling back to trade at $39.02.