US pre-open: Futures point lower ahead of jobs report and after sharp selling in Europe

Wall Street futures are pointing to a further drop for US stocks following a slide in Asian and European indices overnight following news that the largest nuclear reactor in Europe was attacked by Russian forces.

And even though the reactor was reportedly not damaged, analysts were busy marking down their projections for euro area economic growth in 2022.

As of 1308 GMT, futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrials are falling by 302.0 points to 33,436.0, alongside a 38.0 point drop for those on the S&P 500 to 4,321.25.

Traders were likely also taking some more risk off the table ahead of what would likely turn out to be another weekend of grim news out of Ukraine.

Commenting on the situation in European markets, Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "Stocks were dumped early on Friday, extending gains from a sharp selloff yesterday afternoon, as Europe woke to the dire situation in Ukraine."

For their part, analysts at Bank of America were recommending to clients that they be "maximum defensive".

Against that backdrop, at 1330 GMT, the US Department of Labor was expected to report a 400,000 person jump in the number of non-farm payrolls during the month of February, with the US unemployment rate expected to have dipped by one tenth of a percentage point to 3.9%.

In parallel, the US dollar spot index was hitting another 52-week high, climbing 0.84% to 98.61, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year US treasury note was off by five basis points to 1.79%.