By Joe Wallace 

Global stocks wavered Wednesday, while mainland Chinese shares extended a winning streak for a seventh consecutive day.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 ticked up 0.3%, signaling that equity markets could rise at the open after pulling back on worries that the pace of the economic recovery has slowed. The benchmark index fell 1.5% Tuesday, its biggest one-day decline since June 26.

Chinese shares resumed their recent spurt, pushing the Shanghai Composite Index up 1.7%. The index has advanced 8% this week as small investors bet that a recovering economy will boost profits. The streak has revived memories of an earlier rally in Chinese stocks in 2015, which ended in a crash.

U.S. stocks have traded in a narrow range for the past month, after zooming higher for much of the second quarter. Investors are weighing stimulus efforts by central banks and governments against signs that the rebound in U.S. economic growth has lost speed, a jump in coronavirus cases in parts of the country, and rising tensions between China and the West.

"I would characterize the stock market as relatively immune to the [health] crisis," said Gregory Perdon, co-chief investment officer at Arbuthnot Latham & Co., a U.K. private bank. It is difficult for stock prices to go down when stimulus measures by the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank have pinned down bond yields, he added.

The U.S. reported 60,000 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, a single-day record, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The main risk markets face is that the U.S. unemployment rate starts to rise again, after falling to 11.1% in June, according to Mr. Perdon.

"What I'm keenly focused on is how the employment picture, or the changing employment picture, will play into consumption and how that feeds into earnings," he said.

Ahead of the opening bell in New York, shares in TechnipFMC rose more than 9% after the oil-and-gas company said it had signed a construction contract with a refinery in Egypt.

International stock markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.8%. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3%, led lower by shares in banks.

Nokia shares fell 7.5% after analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the telecom-equipment maker's stock, citing signs that Verizon Communications could buy more kit from Samsung Electronics.

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 0.654%, from 0.648% on Tuesday. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Oil prices edged up ahead of data from the Energy Department showing the size of U.S. crude stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.2% to $40.70 a barrel after a separate gauge from the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, suggested inventories grew by 2 million barrels last week.

Gold prices rose, extending recent gains driven by low bond yields and uncertainty about the world economy. New York gold futures were 0.3% higher at $1,815.50 a troy ounce.

Write to Joe Wallace at Joe.Wallace@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 08, 2020 08:17 ET (12:17 GMT)

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