Market Snapshot: U.S. stock futures hold steady after record day as jobs data awaited

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U.S. stock futures traded mostly unchanged on Friday on the heels of a record-setting session as investors awaited jobs data, which could shed light on whether the economy is overheating or slowing amid resurgent COVID-19 cases.

What’s happening?

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
    YM00,
    +0.05%

    rose 24 points to 34,967;

  • S&P 500 futures
    ES00,
    +0.03%

    added 1.4 points to 4,423;

  • Nasdaq-100 futures
    NQ00,
    -0.09%

    slipped 16 points to 15,151.

On Thursday, the Dow industrials
DJIA,
+0.78%

rose 271.58 points, or 0.78%, to finish at 35,064.25. The S&P 500 
SPX,
+0.60%

gained 26.44 points, or 0.6%, to close at 4,429.10 and the Nasdaq Composite 
COMP,
+0.78%

advanced 114.58 points, or 0.8%, to end at 14,895.12, both setting fresh closing records.

Opinion: The S&P 500 looks strong — but these ‘internals’ are far less positive

What’s driving markets?

Investors have been waiting all week for July nonfarm payrolls data, which comes as the S&P 500 has now logged 43 record closes this year.

The economy likely added an estimated 845,000 new jobs, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of economists shows. That gain would almost equal what was seen in June. The unemployment rate is expected to drop to 5.7% from 5.9%.

“There has been plenty of speculation about the importance of today’s jobs report in terms of the timing of a possible tapering of asset purchases, as well as when to expect a possible rate hike, whether it be early 2023, or late 2022,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a note to clients.

“The reality is, whatever today’s number is, the picture is unlikely to be any clearer after the numbers drop, than it is now, which means this month’s Jackson Hole symposium probably won’t offer investors the steer on monetary policy they hope it will,” said Hewson. “This is because no-one on the FOMC really has any idea what the U.S. economy will look like a month from now, let alone a year from now.”

The spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 has also made forecasting a little tricky. Many businesses have been struggling with back-to-work plans due to the fast spread of the delta variant, which has been hitting the U.S. and other countries world-wide.

Other data on tap includes wholesale inventories and consumer credit.

What stocks are in focus?