Wall Street Aims To Open Higher

Reaction to the monthly jobs report, reports on the U.S. trade deficit, and factory orders might attract special attention of investors on Friday.

The fear of an upcoming spike of COVID-19 is creating alarm on a long weekend.
Asian shares finished mixed, while European shares are trading higher.

As of 7.35 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 13.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were gaining 4.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 38.50 points.

The U.S. major averages all closed in positive territory on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up just 18.42 points or 0.1 percent to 14,522.38. The Dow rose 131.02 points or 0.4 percent to 34,633.53 and the S&P 500 climbed 22.44 points or 0.5 percent to 4,319.94.

On the economic front, the Labor Department’s Employment Situation for June will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for non-farm payrolls is 703,000, while it was up at 559,000 in the prior month.

The unemployment rate is expected to be up 5.6 percent, while it was up 5.8 percent in the previous month. Th Private payrolls is projected to increase to 600,000, while it was at 492,000 in May. Average Hourly Earnings might increase to 0.4 percent, while it was up 0.5 percent in the prior month.

The Commerce Department’s International Trade in Goods and Services for May will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $71.2 billion, while the deficit was $68.9 billion.

The Commerce Department’s Factory Orders for May will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for growth of 1.5 percent, while it declined 0.6 percent in April.

Baker Hughes Rig Count will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America Rig Count was 596 and the U.S. Rig Count was 470.

Asian Stock markets closed mixed on Friday. China’s Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded in negative territory.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index sank 70 points or 1.95 percent to close at 3518.76. The Hang Seng Index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange closed 575.83 points or 2.0 percent lower at 28252.12.

The Nikkei 225 Index of the Japan Exchange Group added 76.24 points or 0.27 percent to finish Friday’s trade at 28783.28.

Australia’s S&P/ASX200 closed Friday’s trade with a gain of 43 points or 0.59 percent at the level of 7308.60.

European shares are trading higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is progressing 4.45 points or 0.07 percent. The German DAX is adding 60.22 points or 0.38 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is gaining 11.44 points or 0.16 percent.

The Swiss Market Index is progressing 18.80 points or 0.16 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is up 0.24 percent.