Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes rose early Thursday as investors awaited two closely watched jobs reports on the week's final day of trading ahead of the July Fourth holiday.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials bounced 255 points, or 1%, early Thursday, to 25,830.
Futures for the S&P 500 acquired 24.25 points, or 0.8%, to 3,127.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index added 65.5 points, or 0.6%, to 10,334.25.
The pre-market moves Thursday followed the market's first trading day in the third quarter. Both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite gained during the regular session on Wednesday, with the latter jumping more than 1% to an all-time high.
Boeing shares contributed to the gains before the bell, rising 2.2% after the company completed a series of recertification test flights for the 737 Max.
Though traders accredited Wednesday's gains to optimism over a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Thursday's multiple jobs reports loom large into the holiday weekend.
U.S. markets will be closed on Friday for the July Fourth holiday.
The closely-watched monthly employment report, set to be released Thursday, has proven difficult for market watchers to forecast of late. Last month, economists forecast a loss of eight million jobs in May and the economy gained 2.5 million payrolls instead.
Economists expect nearly three million jobs were created in June, as companies rehired workers they let go when the economy shut down. Consensus estimates also forecast the unemployment rate falling to 12.4% from 13.3% in May.
Meanwhile, the weekly jobless claims data will also be released Thursday morning.
Overseas, in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 nicked ahead 0.1% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index popped 2.9%.
Oil prices gained 31 cents at $40.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $2.60 to $1,782.50.