While investors will analyze in the afternoon the official data on employment in June in the United States, the day after an ADP report pointing to job losses in the private sector, European stock markets are expected to increase slightly at the opening of Thursday.

Credit insurance company Coface announced Wednesday evening that it had completed the acquisition of Cedar Rose, a leading provider of business information solutions in the Middle East and Africa. The amount of the transaction, announced last February, was not disclosed.

Pluxee, the former Sodexo subsidiary specializing in meal vouchers and gifts, confirmed its financial goals for the current and next fiscal year on Thursday, after publishing revenue in line with analysts' expectations in the third quarter.

The automaker Stellantis has appointed Tim Kuniskis as head of group sales and marketing in North America. Tim Kuniskis will remain CEO of the RAM brand

The French services PMI index in June will be unveiled at 9:50am.

Around 7:40 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract grew by 0.2%, according to data from broker IG.

This morning, futures on European equity markets are increasing ahead of the release of data on non-agricultural jobs in the United States. Investors are also keeping an eye on the ongoing review of U.S. President Donald Trump's tax and spending mega-bill. According to data from broker IG, the DAX 40 futures contract in Frankfurt rose by 0.2%, while the FTSE 100 in London rose by 0.3%, around 7:40am.
Investors have also been closely following a wave of sales of British government bonds in the United Kingdom, after the Labor government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer abandoned a plan to cut disability benefits following a rebellion by its own MPs.
In the United States, the highly anticipated report on employment in June will be exceptionally published this Thursday at 2.30 pm due to Friday's holiday with the American National Day. On Wednesday, the ADP report had thrown a cold wind. The American private sector destroyed 33,000 net jobs in June, according to ADP. This is the first time since March 2023 that the sector has lost jobs for this indicator. However, the ADP report is less reliable and comprehensive than the official Labor Department report. Philip Wee of DBS Group Research said in a comment that “after the surprisingly weak ADP report, markets are preparing for negative surprises in today's non-farm employment numbers

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq reached new all-time highs on Wednesday, erasing their pullback from the previous day following the conclusion of a trade agreement between the United States and Vietnam. The Dow Jones index ended down very slightly, (-0.02%) at 44,484.42 points, while the S&P 500 recorded its third record in four sessions thanks to a gain of 0.5%, to 6,227.42 points. The Nasdaq Composite, rich in technological stocks, gained 0.9% to 20,393.13 points

In Asia, the Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell by 0.1% on Thursday at the end of trading. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2%, while the Hang Seng fell by 0.9% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The two-year bond yield was also down 2 basis points, to 3.78%. At around 7:40am, the 10-year US Treasury bond rate was down 2 basis points (0.02 percentage points), to 4.27%.

The greenback gained 0.2% against the Japanese currency, at 143.87 yen. Around 7:40am, the euro lost 0.1% to 1.1792 dollars.

The August contract for soft light crude (WTI) listed on Nymex sold 51 cents (-0.8%) to $66.93 per barrel. Around 7:40 a.m., the September contract for North Sea Brent traded in London lost 53 cents, or 0.8%, to $68.58