Wall Street is set to open in the red on Wednesday morning, despite rather reassuring indicators on the employment front, in a market that promises little activity on the eve of the Independence Day holiday.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on New York's main indices were down between 0.1% and 0.2%, heralding a rather cautious opening.

US equity markets look set to take a breather after the S&P 500 set new record highs the previous day on the back of optimism surrounding technology and AI stocks.

With the presidential election looming ever closer, and the threat of an economic slowdown looming, some analysts feel that now is the time to take profits.

On the economic front, weekly jobless claims edged up by 4,000 to 238,000 in the week to July 29, a further sign of an easing labor market that could lead the Fed to cut rates in September.

In another sign of a less tense job market, the private sector generated only 150,000 jobs last month, a number slightly below economists' expectations, according to the latest ADP survey.

Investors are now awaiting the figures for industrial orders, but above all the ISM services index, to get a better idea of the health of the economy.

Wall Street will be closed on Thursday for the American National Holiday and will not reopen until Friday morning.

On the bond front, the 10-year Treasuries rate is tightening again, and is poised to test the 4.40% threshold after reaching almost 4.48% yesterday.

The trend could change, however, with Friday's busy US agenda, which will be marked by the release of the official employment report for June.

On the energy front, US light crude remains on an upward trend, with a barrel of Texas WTI crude gaining 0.3% to $83.1 ahead of the weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) statistics due later this morning.

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