NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures are edging up Wednesday following a report that business hiring surged in June, a promising sign for economic growth. The report comes a day after news of stronger manufacturing activity helped push the stock market to another all-time high.
KEEPING SCORE: Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 23 points at 16,899 less than an hour before the start of regular trading.
Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up two points to 1,968, while Nasdaq 100 futures are up four points at 3,889.
The Dow edged within two points of 17,000 for the first time after separate reports showed that manufacturing expanded in China and the U.S., the world's two largest economies.
JOBS: ADP, a payroll processer, said businesses added 281,000 jobs last month, up from 179,000 in the previous month. The figure suggests the government's jobs report, due out Thursday, could also show a significant gain from May's tally of 217,000 jobs. But the ADP survey only looks at the private sector so often diverges from the government's more comprehensive report.
A DEAL: Kroger, a supermarket chain, announced plans to buy the online vitamin seller Vitacost.com in a $280 million deal. Cincinnati-based Kroger said it will pay $8 per share in cash for Vitacost.com, a 27 percent premium compared with its closing price of $6.28 on Tuesday. Shares in Vitacost.com were up $1.71 to $7.99 in premarket trading.
EUROPE: Major markets in Europe edged up. France's CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 0.4 percent.