U.S. stock index futures saw modest gains on Thursday (July 3) as market sentiment improved following the recent U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement, which appeared to alleviate some concerns about prolonged trade tensions.

At press time, S&P 500 futures rose 3.60 points to 6,231.00, Nasdaq 100 futures gained 16.50 points to reach 22,658.40, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 36.10 points to 44,520.50. This comes after Wednesday's closing bell saw both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit record highs. The S&P 500 advanced 29.41 points to close at 6,227.42, while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.73% to finish at 22,641.89. The Dow Jones was the lone decliner, slipping 10.52 points to 44,484.42.

Trading volume remained subdued during overnight sessions, with total volume reaching 16.95 billion shares — below the 20-day average of 17.82 billion. In premarket trading, Robinhood Markets shares dipped 0.99% to $97.01. The trading platform announced it would offer €5 worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to EU users who register for stock token trading by July 7. However, OpenAI later clarified on platform X that it wasn't involved in the promotion.

Meanwhile, activist investors acquired over 9% of online travel platform TripAdvisor — a stake valued at approximately $160 million — sending its shares up 6.20% to $15.92 in premarket trading. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba plans to raise about HK$12 billion ($1.53 billion) through convertible bonds, causing its U.S.-listed shares to fall 2.71% to $107.72 premarket.

Market focus remained on Tesla , which reported Q2 delivery numbers that matched Wall Street expectations but marked a 13.5% year-over-year decline — the company's worst quarterly performance to date. The electric vehicle maker delivered 384,122 vehicles in Q2, an improvement from Q1's 337,000 but below last year's 444,000 for the same period. Tesla shares inched up 0.20% to $316.27 in Thursday's premarket as investors digested the delivery figures amid uncertainty about future sales. The company's performance continues to be affected by Trump administration policies, complex international trade relations, and intensifying EV market competition.

Tesla also revealed it produced 410,244 vehicles in Q2, resulting in increased inventory levels that raised concerns about future cash flow and pricing strategy. Investors await Tesla's quarterly earnings report on July 23 for details about new models. According to FactSet analysts, Tesla is expected to report Q2 earnings of $0.44 per share, down from $0.52 a year earlier.