By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures were trading higher in early APAC deals on Thursday, extending gains after major benchmark indices closed higher during the regular session, boosted by stronger than expected local employment data, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also calmed market participants after offering a short-term suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling in order to avert a national default.
In regular trading on Wednesday, the Dow rose 102.32 points or 0.3% to 34417. The S&P 500 advanced 17.85 points or 0.41%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 68.08 points or 0.47% to 14501.91.
Futures were up 0.2%, 0.29% and 0.36% respectively.
Among stocks, investors bought the dip in technology stocks, with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) up 0.2%, Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) gaining 1.13%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) lifting 1.27%, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 1.51%. Meantime, Levi Strauss & Co Class A (NYSE:LEVI) gained 3.55% in extended trade after reporting earnings results that beat market expectations. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) also added 2.15% in extended deals after announcing plans to sell its MoPub mobile advertising network.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates held near 4-month highs of 1.528%.
On the data front, the ADP report showed that private jobs rose by 568,000 for the month, topping forecasts of 425,000.
Ahead in the session, investors will be closely monitoring initial jobless claims and consumer credit.