By Anna Hirtenstein 

U.S. stock futures wobbled Thursday ahead of economic data that will provide insights into the health of the services sector and the labor market.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 wavered between tepid gains and losses, a day after the broad-market index inched up to close at another all-time high. Nasdaq-100 futures edged 0.1% higher, pointing to a muted advance in tech stocks after the opening bell.

Trading has been choppy this week as November's explosive rally in global stocks lost steam. The S&P 500 has repeatedly eked out fresh records on the back of investors' optimism that Covid-19 vaccines will accelerate the economic rebound next year. But rich valuations for stocks and elevated infection levels are tempering some of that cheer, leading to a more subdued move upward in recent days.

"Markets have been driving higher, seeing 2021 as the year economies will snap back," said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank. "There is concern a lot of the good news is already priced in, so I don't expect markets to go shooting into the stratosphere any time soon, but we could see a general grind higher."

Ahead of the market open, Tesla gained almost 4%. A Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded the stock's rating to buy and raised the price target. Tesla will be added to the S&P 500 later this month, which would prompt passive funds that track the index to add the stock to their portfolios.

Data-analytics firm Splunk plunged over 21% in premarket trading after its third-quarter revenue fell because customers pulled back from large contracts. Its forecast also disappointed investors. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity software company, surged more than 12% after its quarterly revenue increased.

In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note edged down to 0.931%, from 0.948% on Wednesday.

The dollar weakened against a basket of currencies, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index declining 0.4% to the lowest since April 2018.

Weekly jobless claims, seen as a proxy for layoffs, dropped to 712,000 for the week ended Nov. 28. That was lower than economists had expected, reflecting a moderate improvement in the pace of recovery of the labor market.

The results of surveys of purchasing managers in the services sector, due to be released starting at 9:45 a.m. ET, will shed light on a part of the economy that has been badly hit by the pandemic.

Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 ticked down 0.2%, putting it on track for a muted drop this week. The gauge is lagging behind major U.S. stock indexes, and is over 10% below the record high it hit in February.

European regulators are expected to make a decision on approving the use of coronavirus-vaccine candidates at the end of the month. Speedier moves by the U.K. and the U.S. will give those nations an edge, and could make their stocks more attractive, investors said.

"Europe seems to be the laggard when it comes to vaccine rollouts, it seems like it will take longer to approve," said Shaniel Ramjee, a multiasset fund manager at Pictet Asset Management. "And logistically, Europe is more fragmented and might not be uniform."

In Asia, most major benchmarks ended the trading session higher.

The Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.2% by the close. American lawmakers on Wednesday approved legislation that could result in a trading ban on the shares of U.S.-listed Chinese companies over concerns about their audit quality.

Write to Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 03, 2020 09:20 ET (14:20 GMT)

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