United States stock futures were largely unchanged on Wednesday evening (Thursday AEDT), although defence and oil major shares rebounded after falling during the day.
S&P 500 futures were flat at 6,965.75 by 10:20 am AEDT (11:20 pm GMT). Dow Jones futures were flat at 49,250.00 and Nasdaq futures were unchanged at 25,831.00.
During regular trading, the S&P 500 shed 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.2%. The S&P and the Dow hit record highs earlier in the session before declining.
Defence stocks dropped after U.S. President Donald Trump said defence companies would not be allowed to issue dividends or stock buybacks until they sped up production and deliveries.
Shares in Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman lost more than 4% but rebounded in after-hours trading.
Lockheed Martin climbed 6.7% while General Dynamics was up 4.2% and Northrop Grumman increased 5.5%.
Oil majors’ shares also rose in after-hours trading following losses during the day. Chevron gained 0.6%, ConocoPhillips increased 0.4%, and ExxonMobil was up 0.2%.
The U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report found job openings decreased by 303,000 to 7.15 million in November, a 14-month low. Hiring and layoffs were down, while hires as a percentage of total employment sank to 3.2%.
Nonfarm payrolls data for December will be released on Friday (Saturday AEDT), with Reuters-polled economists projecting an increase of 47,000 workers in the private sector.
