Stock futures trade cautiously ahead of jobs report
While an improved jobs market suggests the economy is gaining momentum, investors are keeping a close eye on signs of inflation
Federated Hermes senior portfolio manager Linda Bakhshian shares her stock picks and market predictions.
U.S. equity futures were trading tentatively mixed ahead of the release of the most anticipated economic report of the month, the May employment report.
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Economists have predicted an improvement for May, with 650,000 jobs added, compared with April's surprisingly tepid gain of 266,000. The unemployment rate is projected to fall from 6.1% to 5.9%, according to Refinitiv.
The gain would still be a slower hiring pace than the 1 million jobs a month that many economists had envisioned in early spring. The economy still has 8.2 million fewer jobs than it did before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
Other positive labor-related reports came out this week ahead of Friday's headline number.
JOBLESS CLAIMS HIT PANDEMIC LOW, PRIVATE-SECTOR PAYROLLS SURGE PAST EXPECTATIONS
Data released Thursday showed 385,00 Americans filed for first-time jobless benefits in the week ended May 29, the lowest amount since the pandemic began in March 2020. Separately, the ADP National Employment Report found private-sector payrolls grew by 978,000 workers last month. Both reports topped Wall Street's expectations,
In Europe, London's FTSE slipped 0.3%, Germany's DAX was off less than 0.1% and France's CAC gave up 0.1%.
Asian shares mostly slipped Friday, dragged lower by a decline in technology stocks on Wall Street.
While an improved jobs market suggests the economy is gaining momentum after the coronavirus pandemic, investors were keeping a close eye on signs of inflation, which especially hurts the tech sector.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2% and China's Shanghai Composite edged 0.2% higher.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 42221.88 | +427.28 | +1.02% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5782.76 | +70.07 | +1.23% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18439.170746 | +259.19 | +1.43% |
On Wall Street on Thursday, the benchmark S&P 500 index dropped 0.4% and is on track for a 0.3% weekly loss.
The S&P 500 fell 15.27 points to 4,192.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1% to 34,577.04. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1% to 13,614.51.
Microsoft fell 0.6% and Apple lost 1.2%.
AMC RAISES $587 MILLION IN SHARE SALE
AMC Entertainment slumped 17.9%, shedding gains from a brief rally, after the movie theater operator said it would sell more shares after a huge run-up in its stock price on a surge of interest from individual investors. The stock is still up about 2,300% this year.
General Motors jumped 6.4% after saying it expects earnings in the first half of the year to exceed its earlier forecasts after it did a better job of managing a global computer chip shortage than expected.
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In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 25 cents to $69.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up 2 cents to $68.81 per barrel on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, added 14 cents to $71.45 a barrel.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.