US pre-open: Futures trade higher ahead of nonfarm payrolls report

Wall Street futures were trading slightly higher ahead of the bell on Friday as market participants eagerly awaited the release of last month's nonfarm payrolls report later in the day.

As of 1215 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.17%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were trading 0.19% and 0.12% higher, respectively.

The Dow closed 131.29 points higher on Thursday thanks to some better-than-expected jobless claims data from the Labor Department.

Friday's main focus will be August's nonfarm payrolls data and unemployment rate figures at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see nonfarm payrolls slip from 943,000 in July to 750,000 in August and the unemployment rate drop to 5.2% last month from 5.4% in July.

Investors will look to the report for hints as to just how quickly the Federal Reserve may look to remove easy monetary policy.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "Today is the most important day for market players as it is today when we will get to see the latest reading of the US NFP data. This economic reading commands the most attention among investors and traders as the economic data not only sets the trading tone for today but it also influences it for the rest of the month. As always, the Fed will watch this data very closely, and it is highly likely to influence their monetary policy, which they will be announcing next week.

"US and European stock futures are trading mildly higher as traders are going to take a very cautious approach ahead of this data. Generally speaking, there is a 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 is likely to produce another set of strong readings. But at the same time, investors are also going to look closely at the impact of the Delta variant on the US economy."

Elsewhere on the macro front, the ISM's non manufacturing PMI will be released at 1500 BST.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.