US pre-open: Stock futures waver ahead of non-farm payrolls
US stock futures wavered on Friday as investors awaited the US non-farm payrolls report due later.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12 points to 17,830 and futures for the S&P 500 increased 1.25 points to 2,092.50 while Nasdaq futures dropped 3.25 points to 4,449.
At the same time oil prices recovered from the previous day’s dip with West Texas Intermediate crude up 0.46% to $45.35 per barrel and Brent up 0.45% to $46.61 per barrel.
The Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls report at 1330 BST is expected to reveal US employers added 180,000 jobs in June, compared to just 38,000 in May.
The Federal Reserve is watching the labour market closely in determining when to raise interest rates. The Fed said a weak May jobs report played a part in its decision to keep rates unchanged in June.
“Last month's US payroll data changed the landscape for the markets and for the Fed,” said Naeen Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Market UK.
“As a result, investors scaled back on their bullish dollar bets because they could not see the Fed increasing the interest rate anytime soon.”
The report follows the ADP private payrolls data on Thursday which came in at a gain of 172,000 jobs in June, ahead of expectations for rise of 160,000 jobs, but still down from May’s 173,000.
In other economic data on Friday, consumer credit data for May is due at 2000 BST.
On the company-front, Juno Therapeutics Inc. dropped in premarket trade after the pharmaceutical company said its study of a cancer drug has been postponed by the Food and Drug Administration after two patient deaths.
Eleven Biotherapeutics Inc. jumped ahead of the opening bell after the drugmaker said its Investigational New Drug application for EBI-031 has become effective, which means it is entitled to a $22.5m payment from licensees from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
Gap Inc. shares may move after the retailer said late Thursday that its same-store sales increased 2% in June.