Strong demand for safe-haven assets kept German bond futures near record highs on Thursday, while European shares and the euro regained some poise though persistent worries over Spain and its troubled banks are weighing on market sentiment.

On the macro front, investors awaited the ADP employment report, a harbinger for Friday's all-important monthly non-farm payrolls. Economists in a Reuters survey expect 148,000 jobs were created in May versus 119,000 new jobs in April.

Investors will also keep an eye on the preliminary estimate for first-quarter gross domestic product. Economists forecast a 1.9 percent annualized pace of growth, compared with a 2.2 percent rate in the advance Q1 estimate.

The U.S. Federal Reserve should move to boost weak economic growth and trim overly high unemployment by pushing down borrowing costs still further, a top Fed official said on Wednesday.

Striking workers at a Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) plant in Joliet, Illinois, on Wednesday rejected the company's latest contract offer, an official with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who last year failed to get his nominees elected to the board of Forest Laboratories Inc (FRX.N), plans to back another slate of directors at the drugmaker's next shareholder meeting, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

US Airways Group (LCC.N) and private equity firm TPG Capital TPG.UL may team up to bid for American Airlines' parent, AMR Corp (AAMRQ.PK), according to people familiar with the discussions.

Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) posted a four percent rise in comparable sales in May, falling short of analysts' forecasts as a strong dollar hurt the value of its sales overseas.

TiVo Inc (TIVO.O) reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss and forecast another loss for the current quarter as the maker of digital television recorders fights costly legal battles to protect its patents.

U.S. mutual fund investors pulled the most money out of equity funds since the start of the year and scaled back bond investments in the latest week as concerns over the euro zone intensified, data from the Investment Company Institute showed on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday as surging bond yields in Spain and Italy ratcheted up tensions in financial markets about Europe's ability to solve its growing debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI lost 160.83 points, or 1.28 percent, to 12,419.86 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 Index .SPX dropped 19.10 points, or 1.43 percent, to 1,313.32. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 33.63 points, or 1.17 percent, to 2,837.36.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by John Stonestreet)

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