US pre-open: Futures little changed ahead of nonfarm payrolls report

Wall Street futures were little changed ahead of the bell on Friday as traders awaited May's key jobs report from the Labor Department later in the day.

As of 1235 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.03%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.10% and 0.19% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 23.34 points lower on Thursday as market participants digested this week's all-important jobless claims report from the Department of Labor, which showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended 29 May had dropped below 400,000 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic started over twelve months ago.

Friday's main focus will be May's nonfarm payrolls report at 1330 BST, with economists expecting the report to show 671,000 jobs being added in May, up from a disappointing print of 266,000 in April.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said: "Like clockwork another nonfarm Friday rolls around, perhaps explaining the noncommittal open in Europe.

"The futures are suggesting much the same for the US open, with the Dow Jones set to start Friday’s trading unchanged around the 34,600 mark. However, one could argue that nothing this Friday really counts until the latest nonfarm jobs data is released around lunchtime.

"Last month was a shocker, with the headline nonfarm figure coming in at just 266,000 against the near-1.0m forecast. Yet it was a result that investors weren’t exactly unhappy with, given it may cause the Federal Reserve to reconsider any stimulus tapering talk. For May, however, signs are pointing to a rebound. The ADP nonfarm reading on Thursday shot past expectations, rising from 654,000 to 978,000, while jobless claims have been steady falling week-on-week, yesterday striking a pandemic-low of 385,000."

Elsewhere on the macro front, April's factory orders figures will be published at 1500 BST.

In the corporate space, Facebook was in the red after being slapped with fresh antitrust investigations in the UK and EU, while AMC also traded lower following several days of big swings for the "meme stock".

No major earnings were slated for release on Friday.