Following the sell-off seen in the previous session, stocks may move back to the upside in early trading on Friday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.1 percent and the Nasdaq futures up by 0.4 percent.
The futures turned positive as the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report showed employment increased by less than expected in June, easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 209,000 jobs in June after surging by a downwardly revised 306,000 in May.
Economists had expected employment to shoot up by 225,000 jobs compared to the spike of 339,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the report showed the unemployment rate edged down to 3.6 percent in June from 3.7 percent in May, in line with economist estimates.
While the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point later this month, the data may lead to renewed optimism that will be the end of the central bank’s rate-hiking cycle.
Stocks saw significant weakness during trading on Thursday, extending the pullback seen during Wednesday’s session. The major averages regained some ground after an early sell-off but remained notably lower.
After tumbling by more than 500 points in morning trading, the Dow ended the day down 366.38 points or 1.1 percent at 33,922.26. The Nasdaq slumped 112.61 points or 0.8 percent to 13,679.04 and the S&P 500 slid 35.23 points or 0.8 percent to 4,11.59.
With the extended pullback, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 continued to give back ground after inching up to their best closing levels in over a year on Monday.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are edging up $0.05 to $71.85 a barrel after inching up $0.01 to $71.80 a barrel on Thursday. Meanwhile, after falling $11.70 to $1,915.40 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $5.80 to $1,921.20 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 142.94 yen versus the 144.07 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Thursday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0912 compared to yesterday’s $1.0889.
Business News
U.S. Stocks May Move Back To The Upside As Job Growth Misses Estimates
2023-07-07 12:51:09
