US pre-open: Stocks seen touch weaker after Syria airstrikes; payrolls in focus

US futures pointed to a slightly weaker open on Wall Street on Friday amid mounting geopolitical risks after the US military struck a Syrian airfield near Homs and as investors looked ahead of the non-farm payrolls report.

At 1100 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were down 0.2%.

Meanwhile, oil prices gained ground on the back of the US missile strike amid concerns about disruption to supply in the region, with West Texas Intermediate up 1.7% to $52.57 a barrel and Brent crude 1.5% higher at $55.69.

Gold and silver prices were up more than 1% while the yen rallied as investors opted for safe haven assets. The yellow metal rose to a fresh five-month high of $1,269 an ounce following news of the air strike.

In currency markets, the dollar was down 0.2% versus the yen at 110.62, but up 0.4% against the pound at 0.8048 following disappointing UK industrial and manufacturing production figures.The greenback was up 0.1% versus the euro at 0.9400.

US President Donald Trump said he ordered the missile strikes following the deadly chemical attack that took place earlier in the week.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said late on Thursday that there was "no doubt" Syrian President Bashar Assad was behind the poison gas attack that killed dozens of Syrian civilians.

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said that although the US launched its attack on Assad’s regime, from a geopolitical standpoint, this was essentially an attack on Russian interests.

"This came at a crucial time, given the fact that Trump is in the middle of a two-day meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson is due to visit Moscow tomorrow. For the Chinese, last night’s attacks highlight the fact that Trump is willing to act if his opponents push it too far; a clear nod to the escalations of tension in North Korea. Tillerson’s meeting in Moscow has just become increasingly difficult to predict, with a strong chance that this may not go ahead at all.

"The focus later will switch to the US non-farm payrolls report. The US economy is expected to have added about 180,000 jobs in March, a figure that would give backing to the Federal Reserve’s current monetary tightening and stoke speculation in the markets that we could even see three more rate hikes this year. That figure would mark a slight slowdown from January and February when mild weather lifted hiring by firms, but it would still be close to the monthly average seen in 2016."

The payrolls report is due at 1330 BST, along with the unemployment rate.

On the corporate front, shares in CarMax Inc. rose in pre-market trade after the used car retailer reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the fourth quarter late on Thursday.

Constellation Brands nudged lower in pre-market trade despite reporting solid fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.