US futures pop after tech windfall with jobs report on deck


US stock futures pointed upward Friday, signaling a strong end to a topsy-turvy week on Wall Street amid an onslaught of market-moving events.

Futures tied to the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.6%, while those on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lagged, hovering just above the flatline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) looked to lead gains, rising more than 1%.

Investors are nearing the end of a momentous week, with the final datapoint coming in the form of January’s jobs report. As Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer reports, Wall Street expects a modest decline in job growth last month, as well as a small uptick in the unemployment rate.

The labor market has remained resilient in the face of a rate-hiking campaign from the Federal Reserve, though other data this week has shown signs of softening. Though the Jerome Powell-sparked sell-off of just two days ago is almost a mere footnote by now, Friday’s jobs report could once again shift expectations on the Fed’s rate path, especially as Powell suggested that a strong labor market is actually a good sign.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were still basking in the glow of strong earnings reports from tech giants Amazon (AMZN) and Meta (META) on Thursday. As Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban writes, they delivered the goods where Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) had fallen short earlier in the week. Meta surged more than 17% in premarket trading, while Amazon popped nearly 7%.

Apple (AAPL) also looks to have disappointed, despite an earnings beat Thursday, because of warning signs about its China business. Apple fell as much as 2.5% before the market open.

Live1 update

  • Tech earnings and jobs in focus

    Good Friday morning!

    We are nearing the end of a jam-packed week for markets and the economy with one final main event: the January jobs report. Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer will have all the numbers and reaction starting at 8:30 a.m. ET.

    Also in focus will be the aftermath of the last significant round of Big Tech earnings this quarter. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was set to pop more than 1% as Meta and Amazon surged. But Apple was setting up for a decline after warning about its China business.

Signup bonus from $125 to $3000 | Signup now Football & Online Casino

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

You Might Also Like: