Equity futures rose Friday, with investors seeking clues about the pace of future rate hikes by the Federal Reserve ahead of October’s jobs report.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 221 points, or 0.7%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.9%, while futures linked to the Nasdaq 100 were up 0.9%.
Friday’s October non-farm payrolls report will give investors further clues as to the state of the economy and how much effort the central bank may have to do to keep inflation down. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect the unemployment rate to stabilize at 3.5%, with 205,000 jobs added last month.
“They’re trying to squash demand, which makes tomorrow’s job numbers very important because even if you get good job numbers in terms of jobs not getting worse, it’s a really hard job. Because it becomes [the central bank] That’s it,” Private Advisor Group’s Guy Adami told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Thursday.
Friday’s jobs report comes after another weak Wall Street session.
The Dow fell about 0.5% on Thursday while the S&P 500 fell 1%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq fell 1.7%. Investors weighed in on his 0.75% rate hike recently by the Fed and comments from Jerome Powell, who suggested the pivot could be farther than traders expected.
All major averages are on track to close out the week with losses. As of Thursday’s close, the Dow is down 2.62%, ending a four-week rally. The S&P and Nasdaq are down 4.64% and 6.84% respectively, on pace to break the two-week winning streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is also on track for its worst weekly performance since January 2022.
Corporate earnings season continues with mobile payment companies block After beating expectations, it jumped 13%. Calvana Shares fell as they posted wider-than-expected losses. Investors also expect a third quarter report from AMC Networks before Friday bells.
