By Tanya Agrawal
REUTERS - Wall Street looked set to open lower on Thursday after data showed lower-than-expected hiring in the private sector and as technology shares fell.
The ADP National Employment Report showed private employers added 158,000 jobs in June, below the estimated addition of 185,000.
The report by payrolls processor ADP acts as a precursor to monthly nonfarm payrolls data, due on Friday, that includes hiring in both the public and private sectors.
Another set of data showed weekly jobless claims rose for the third straight week, with claims climbing to 248,000, above the 243,000 expected.
"The ADP number has some correlation to the U.S. NFP (nonfarm payrolls) and investors always adjust their expectations on the back of this," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK Ltd.
"But overall we think that the number is not that bad because this is the only second time that we have seen a miss."
Technology shares have come under pressure in recent weeks after their strong run this year. The S&P tech sector is up nearly 17 percent for the year.
Shares of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet were all down about 0.8 percent in premarket trading.
Dow e-minis were down 61 points, or 0.28 percent, with 29,274 contracts changing hands at 8:22 a.m. ET (1222 GMT).
S&P 500 e-minis were down 8.5 points, or 0.35 percent, with 180,329 contracts traded.
Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 53.25 points, or 0.94 percent, on volume of 38,850 contracts.
Investors are also parsing minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting that showed policymakers were increasingly split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interest rate hikes.
The Fed's preferred measure of underlying inflation slipped to 1.4 percent in May and has run below the 2 percent target for more than five years now.
The minutes revealed a few officials viewed equity prices as high when compared to standard valuation measures, even though earnings growth has been robust.
The S&P 500 has been trading at about 18 times earnings estimates for the next 12 months, compared with the long-term average of 15 times.
Tesla fell 3 percent after the luxury electric carmaker's Model S did not get the top score in certain tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
General Electric slipped 1.7 percent after the European Commission accused the company of providing misleading information during a merger deal.
Costco rose 1.9 percent after the retailer reported a rise in its June sales number.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
