US stock futures traded in the green on Wednesday after a ruling in a landmark antitrust case refrained from forcing Google (GOOG) to sell its Chrome browser but instituted other requirements that could shake the tech giant’s hold on search.
Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose 0.6%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) moved up 0.4%. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), which includes fewer tech stocks, hovered just above the flat line.
A federal district judge determined that forcing Google to sell Chrome would be a “poor fit” in a case brought by the Justice Department over Google’s market dominance in search. The ruling, however, orders Google to share data with competitors and bars it from holding certain contracts.
The tech giant’s shares rallied in premarket trading, as did Apple’s (AAPL), since the case allows it to continue paying for the use of Google Search in Safari and Siri.
The boost was a welcome turn of events after a downbeat day on Wall Street. Stocks sank on Tuesday, weighed down by declines from Nvidia (NVDA) and uncertainty around President Trump’s trade policy and the Federal Reserve.
On Wednesday, investors will receive fresh insight into the labor market with the release of the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). July’s jobs report showed cracks appearing in the labor market, and further signs of stress could convince the Fed to make a deeper reduction in interest rates than currently expected at its September meeting. The August jobs report is set to land Friday.
In corporate earnings, Macy’s (M), Salesforce (CRM), and Dollar Tree (DLTR) report results on Wednesday.
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