Editorial StaffStock futures were cautiously higher early Friday as investors waited for the jobs report, looking for further clues about the Federal Reserve’s path of rate hikes and the state of the economy.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 56 points or 0.17%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.13% and 0.19%, respectively.
Economists expect 258,000 jobs were added in July, down from 372,000 in June, according to Dow Jones. Unemployment is expected to hold steady at 3.6%. The jobs report is released Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
“Investors will be waiting to see if the labor market can withstand the Fed’s rate-hike campaign as well as it did in June,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade.
Job growth is expected to slow as the Fed continues to hike interest rates to tame surging inflation, but it’s unclear whether that slowing will tip the economy into an official recession. Many said Friday’s report is crucial as it’s one of two the central bank will see before it decides how much to raise rates at its September meeting.
The S&P 500 is up a modest 0.5% on the week, attempting to post a three-week winning streak. The blue-chip Dow has dipped 0.4% this week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is outperformer, up 2.7% on the week.
European stocks flat ahead of key U.S. jobs report
European markets were flat on Friday morning as investors tracked corporate earnings and awaited the key U.S. jobs report.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was little changed in early trade. Autos gained 0.8% while insurance stocks fell 0.8%.
Earnings continue to drive individual share price movement in Europe. Allianz, Deutsche Post, the London Stock Exchange Group and WPP were among the companies reporting before the bell on Friday.
Asia markets shake off fears over military tensions around Taiwan
Markets in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday as investors shook off fears over China’s military exercises near Taiwan, which follow U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island this week.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.74%. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.28% and the Shenzhen Component increased 0.64%.
The Taiex in Taiwan jumped more than 2%, with chipmaker TSMC rising 2.8%.
Source: CNBC
Source: Yahoo Finance
