US futures edge up in countdown to jobs data
US stock futures nudged higher on Friday, pointing to a reprieve from losses as jittery investors braced for the crucial monthly jobs report but kept one eye on surging oil prices.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) futures put on roughly 0.2%, while S&P 500 (^GSPC) futures added 0.3% on the heels of its worst single-day fall since February. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) were up 0.3%.
The major gauges slumped on Thursday as oil prices hit their highest levels in six months, spurring worries about a boost to inflation, and a panoply of Federal Reserve speakers rattled faith in an interest-rate cut coming any time soon.
Stocks now face a test in the much-anticipated March jobs report, closely watched by Fed policymakers in their deliberations about the health of the economy and any easing up in borrowing costs. The reading is expected to show some signs of cooling in the labor market, after two months of robust job gains shocked Wall Street to start the year.
Nerves in the market are running high, going by this week’s bumpy action in stocks. Investors are juggling economic releases and corporate news alongside growing tensions in the Middle East, seen as a curveball for a market more used to debating Fedspeak than geopolitics.
Oil prices held near multimonth highs on Friday, building on the big gains notched amid escalating Israel-Iran tensions. Brent crude futures (BZ=F), the international benchmark, topped $91 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) changed hands at $86.77.
The monthly jobs report is slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday and is expected to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 213,000 in March while the unemployment rate fell to 3.8%.
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