By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

U.S. stock futures were lower in early European trade as AI-related stocks fell across the globe ahead of Thursday's crucial jobs data.

Kevin Warsh kept mum on the Federal Reserve's rate-setting path when speaking in Portugal Wednesday. In the absence of forward guidance, investors look to June's non-farm payroll data for evidence on whether the Federal Reserve should raise interest rates as markets expect.

U.S. Treasury yields edged higher ahead of the release, though the dollar weakened slightly. Traders will look to position ahead of the long Independence Day weekend, with U.S. markets closed Friday for the holiday.

Artificial-intelligence chip stocks fell in Asia and Europe, while U.S. peers looked set to extend the last session's fall in premarket trading. A report that Meta is planning to sell excess compute raised doubt around hyperscalers' spending plans, causing weakness in Asian chip makers.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell on signs of progress in indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations.

  • In early European trading, Brent crude oil slid 1% to $70.87 a barrel, while WTI futures were down 1% to $67.86 a barrel. A Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a post on X that Qatari and Pakistani mediators had concluded separate meetings with U.S. and Iranian negotiators in Doha, with positive progress made on issues related to the memorandum of understanding. "Oil prices are likely to remain under downward pressure as supply continues to normalize and geopolitical risk premiums unwind, although setbacks in negotiations or renewed security incidents could still trigger periods of volatility," said Soojin Kim from MUFG.
  • In the U.S., futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.1%. Nasdaq futures lost 0.7% as the selloff in chip makers was poised to extend, with Micron Technology falling 3% premarket, while Arm Holdings fell 3.6%.
  • Asian stocks were mostly lower as the region's biggest beneficiaries of the global artificial intelligence boom lost ground on concerns over the sustainability of spending in AI infrastructure. South Korea's Kospi fell 7.9% on Thursday as chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix declined 9% and 14.6%, respectively. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was 2.5% lower as Kioxia Holdings tumbled 13.5% and Tokyo Electron dropped 7.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.5% as investors returned from their holiday on Wednesday. Heavyweight Chinese internet stocks, including Tencent and Alibaba, led the gainers, reversing some of their recent weakness.
  • European indexes climbed higher as the morning progressed after opening largely in the red, despite global slide in technology stocks bleeding into the continent. Luxury and consumer staple stocks strengthened, with the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 trading up 0.2%. Germany's DAX rose 0.2% as gains for autos and defense stocks countered falls in AI-related stocks Siemens Energy and Infineon, which fall 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively. The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% in London, with J Sainsbury rising 2.1%. The CAC 40 rose 0.6% as luxury bellwether LVMH rallied 1.25% after recent weakness. Grocer Carrefour gains 3.4%. Italy's FTSE MIB and Spain's IBEX 35 are flat. Semiconductor-related stocks dragged the AEX down 0.45% in Amsterdam, however, as ASML drops 2.6% while BE Semiconductor slides 3.4%.
  • The dollar edged lower ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report. With the U.S. and Iran signing a memorandum of understanding in June to end the war, the U.S. labor market comes into more focus for foreign exchange markets, Commerzbank's Volkmar Baur said in a note. However, this data will have less importance than in the past as new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh hasn't spoken much about the labor market and recent payrolls figures seem to be somewhat more volatile than previously, he said. The DXY dollar index fell 0.1% to 101.304.
  • U.S. Treasury yields rose in Asian trade across maturities as economic data remain solid. Thursday's focus will be on the June employment data. "An outcome around expectations--and note that the outcome has surprised on the upside over the past three months--means that the Federal Reserve can continue to set the inflation target ahead of the employment target," SEB's Karl Steiner said in a note. Inflation, meanwhile, is expected to be on the way down as long as the Iran conflict continues to subside and doesn't have large second-round effects, the head of analysis said. The 10-year Treasury yield rose 1.8 basis points to 4.492%.
  • Eurozone government bond yields rose, tracking U.S. Treasury yields higher. Bond supply comes Thursday from Spain and France. The highly-awaited panel debate Wednesday at the European Central Bank's forum in Sintra between Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, ECB President Christine Lagarde, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem "didn't yield much really new insights on the short-term dynamics of monetary policy of the participants' central banks," KBC Bank analysts said in a note. The 10-year German Bund yield rises 2.2 basis points to 2.898%.
  • Bitcoin rose 0.8% to $60,530, having reached a 21-month low of $57,775 on Wednesday.
  • In early trading, New York gold futures were up 0.1% to $4,088.10 a troy ounce. "Gold could find near-term support if expectations for additional rate hikes continue to soften, although persistent inflation and a resilient U.S. economy are likely to limit upside potential," analysts at MUFG say.

Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com