US pre-open: Futures point to gains ahead of Independence Day holiday

Wall Street trading looked set to begin on a positive note on Wednesday following a late rally in the previous session and ahead of a batch of data.

At 1230 BST, Dow futures had the index opening 0.20% firmer, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq looked set to start the session 0.26% and 0.36% better off, respectively.

The Dow closed 68.25 points higher on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 set yet another record close despite threats of new tariffs on European goods dampening much of the optimism seen following news of a possible trade deal between the US and China.

Global growth worries also looked set to be on investors' minds, after South Korea became the latest trade-reliant economy to slash its economic growth and export targets.

AxiTrader 's chief market analyst James Hughes said: "The S&P 500 posted another record closing high last night, but there's growing concern that the upside for stocks is looking limited.

"Concerns continue to propagate that global growth is incredibly fragile, a theme which Bank of England governor Mark Carney was keen to reiterate yesterday. There's also mounting speculation that resolving the US-China trade spat will leave Beijing with the upper hand, whilst the prospect of US tariffs on a range of European imports also looms large."

Hughes also noted that a WTO ruling over illegal state subsidies for Airbus was set to be delivered in coming weeks, noting there was a belief that the White House would levy tariffs quickly in response to the news, something which he believes could "set the market up for another rout".

On the data front, ADP payrolls data for June was expected at 1315 BST, while weekly jobless claims and international trade data for May were both scheduled for 1330 BST.

The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index and services PMI for June will follow at 1445 BST, while factory orders for May will be released at 1500 BST.

In corporate news, Tesla shares surged overnight after it posted record quarterly revenues, while Symantec shares rocketed in pre-market trading on reports that the group was in buyout talks with Broadcom.

IT and support services company 3AM Technologies will also post its most recent quarterly figures on Wednesday.