US pre-open: Futures in the green ahead of NFP report

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Friday as investors await the release of last month's non-farm payrolls report.

As of 1225 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.50%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.61% and 0.56% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 146.51 points lower on Thursday, extending losses recorded in the previous session on the back of the Fed's rate hike.

Friday's primary focus will be Octobers non-farm payrolls data at 1230 GMT, released alongside last month's unemployment rate figure, with market participants hoping to find hints on where exactly the US economy currently stands and just how much more the Fed will have to do if it wants to tame inflation.

Economists expect to see the US add 205,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate hold steady at 3.5%.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "Today is the most crucial day for market players, as we will see the latest reading of the US NFP data. This economic reading commands the most attention among investors and traders as the economic data sets the trading tone for today and influences it for the rest of the month. As always, the Fed will watch this data very closely, which is highly likely to affect their monetary policy, which they will be announcing next week.

"US and European stock futures are trading mildly lower as traders will take a cautious approach ahead of this data. There is minimal volume in the markets ahead of this data as the action tends to happen only after the economic reading. Although it is generally expected that the upcoming US NFP number will likely produce another set of solid readings. But at the same time, investors will also look closely at the impact of the data on the US economy."

In the corporate space, DraftKings was in the red despite posting a smaller-than-expected Q3 loss, DoorDash shares surged after revealing it had experienced record orders and better-than-expected revenues, and Starbucks reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for its latest quarter as sales hit a fresh record high.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com