Traders work on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor
New York Stock Exchange
S&P 500 futures were little changed as investors braced for Friday’s closely watched jobs report.
Futures tied to broader market indexes were little changed, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.1%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19 points, or 0.05%.
The moves come as traders prepare for the release of widely monitored labor force data on Friday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones predict nonfarm payrolls will increase by 200,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate will hold steady at 4%. They also expect hourly wages to rise 0.3% from May, for an annualized increase of 3.9%.
The report comes as traders consider the latest economic data pointing to weakness in the economy and what that means for the Fed’s future monetary policy decisions.
ADP data released on Wednesday showed that private employment growth in June was weaker than expected, while weekly jobless claims were higher than economists forecast. On top of that, the Institute for Supply Management’s reading of the services sector unexpectedly showed a contraction.
“Friday’s non-farm payrolls report should help illuminate the underlying strength of the labor market,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. “Given other evidence of a cooling economic backdrop… The farm employment report could become increasingly decisive for the Fed as it looks to make the case for easing interest rates.”
All three major stock indexes are expected to rise in the holiday-shortened trading week. this Nasdaq Index and S&P 500 Index This week they rose more than 2.5% and 1.4% respectively. On Wednesday, both closed at record highs and set new intraday records.
this Dow Chemical Gains lagged this week, rising about 0.5%. Markets were closed Thursday for Independence Day.
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