U.S. stock futures edged lower Friday ahead of the pivotal jobs report, with investors also weighing a profit warning at a leading microchip maker.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.08%
fell 5 points to 29977. -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
-0.09%
dropped 6.25 points, or 0.2%, to 3751. -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
-0.39%
decreased 46.5 points, or 0.4%, to 11495.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
fell 347 points, or 1.15%, to 29927, the S&P 500
SPX,
declined 39 points, or 1.02%, to 3745, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
dropped 75 points, or 0.68%, to 11073.
Even with Thursday’s decline, the S&P 500 is still up 4% on the week.
What’s driving markets
The nonfarm payrolls report is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, with economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expecting jobs growth to slow to 275,000, but the unemployment rate staying steady at 3.7%.
Fed Gov. Christopher Waller late on Thursday said he doesn’t expect the jobs report to change anyone’s thinking at the central bank. “A jobs number [around 260,000] along with the job openings rate reported on Tuesday would show that the labor market is slowing a bit but is still quite tight. As a result, I don’t expect tomorrow’s jobs report to alter my view that we should be focused 100% on reducing inflation,” he said.
Of course, it’s in the Fed’s interest not to signal a pivot until it’s ready to make one, given its belief that keeping financial conditions tight will help to reduce inflation. New York Fed President John Williams will have the opportunity to comment on the data when he speaks at 10 a.m.
Besides the jobs report, investors will weigh a profit warning from microchip maker AMD
AMD,
which said the PC market weakened significantly during the quarter. AMD shares fell 5% in premarket trade, and rivals including Nvidia
NVDA,
and Intel
INTC,
also were lower.
The PHLX semiconductor index
SOX,
has dropped 36% this year.
