Stock futures are slightly lower in overnight trading ahead of jobs data

Stock futures were slightly lower in overnight trading on Wednesday as investors await new labor-market data to gauge the pace of the economic recovery.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 73 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both trading in mildly negative territory.

Snowflake shares tumbled 3.1% in extended trading after the data-analytics software company reported widening losses.

Nvidia’s stock dipped about 1% in after-hours trading even after the chip giant’s earnings and sales for the first quarter both beat Wall Street expectations. Its revenue grew 88% compared to last year.

The move in futures followed a relatively quiet session on Wall Street. The S&P 500 eked out a 0.2% gain in light trading, supported by gains in shares tied to the economic reopening including airlines and cruise line operators. The blue-chip Dow finished Wednesday’s session little changed, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6%.

Trading is expected to be muted ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

“Equity markets are quiet as investors continue to anticipate the Fed’s next move,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “Low volatility and low trading volume are a frequent occurrence in the week leading into a holiday.”

Investors await the latest data on U.S. weekly jobless claims, which comes out Thursday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting a total of 425,000 Americans to have filed unemployment benefits in the week ended May 22. In the week prior, jobless claims reached a fresh pandemic-era low of 444,000.