US open: Stocks look to Fedspeak for guidance past June after jobs data

The main Wall Street gauges are mixed despite the release of what some economists labelled a "solid" jobs report for the month of April, with investors steeling themselves for a raft of speeches from multiple Federal Reserve officials scheduled for later in the day.

At 1547 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 0.13% to 20,923.78, while the S&P 500 was edging up by 0.08% to 2,391.54 and the Nasdaq Composite was off by 0.01% to 6,074.38.

US non-farm payrolls jumped by 211,000 last month (consensus: 193,000), after a underwhelming gain of 79,000 in March, as the rate of unemployment ticked lower to 4.4% from 4.5%.

However, wage growth fell short of consensus, rising by 2.5% year-on-year, versus analysts' projections calling for a rise of 2.7%.

"On net, this report is solid but does not change our fundamental view of activity in the economy; the report does, however, increase our confidence that the soft patch in Q1 is over.

"Revisions to past months' data show less wage growth y/y than we had anticipated. Wage inflation simply is not taking root in the economy. We have no doubt that labor markets are tight and that they continue to tighten further but that pressure is failing to manifest in higher wage growth," said Michael Gapen and Rob Martin at Barclays Research.

"Given the long lags between rate hikes and shifts in labor market conditions, Fed hawks will now be even keener to see rates rise further, despite the levelling-off in hourly wage growth in recent months. [...] The June hike is more or less done, but we think markets hugely underestimate the risk for Sep, when we expect the Fed to hike again," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

With Friday's jobs numbers apparently sealing the debate on a June interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, the spotlight shifted to speeches from five Fed officials later in the day, including US central bank chair Janet Yellen herself and her number two, Stanley Fischer, which might shed some light on the prospects for further hikes later in the year.

Meanwhile, oil prices steadied, having fallen sharply amid worries that Opec and other producing countries would not take further steps to reduce the glut of crude. West Texas Intermediate was gaining 1.58% to $46.27 on the NYMEX. At 1800 BST, Baker Hughes will release its latest report on the number of active US rigs drilling for oil.

To take note of, overnight the US House of Representatives approved a bill partially repealing ex-President Obama's landmark healthcare reform bill, possibly paving the way for tax reforms by the current administration towards the end of 2018.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was higher by four basis points at 2.36%.

In corporate news, shares in tech-giant IBM were under pressure after Warren Buffet told CNBC he had lost confidence in the investment, prompting him to sell a third of his stake.

Herbalife shares rocketed after smashing past analysts' forecasts for its first quarter numbers, with earnings per share printing at $1.24 (consensus: $0.89) while revenues came in at $1.1bn (consensus: $1.05bn).

Cigna was on the frontfoot after the health insurer posted better-than-expected first-quarter results ahead of the opening bell.

Elsewhere, Berkshire Hathaway slipped in pre-market trade ahead of its results after the close, while videogame developer Activision Blizzard fell after its quarterly earnings late on Thursday surpassed expectations but it reported fewer users.

Dow Jones - Risers

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $46.57 1.50%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $147.84 0.89%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $79.38 0.75%
Boeing Co. (BA) $184.34 0.69%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $105.53 0.69%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.11 0.57%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $63.61 0.36%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $99.47 0.08%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $121.05 0.04%
General Electric Co. (GE) $29.20 0.02%

Dow Jones - Fallers

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $154.95 -2.57%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $53.92 -1.01%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $122.97 -0.79%
Visa Inc. (V) $92.01 -0.66%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.61 -0.65%
American Express Co. (AXP) $78.03 -0.38%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $154.27 -0.38%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $86.77 -0.38%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $225.87 -0.32%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $33.35 -0.30%

S&P 500 - Risers

Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $11.02 6.58%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $14.22 6.48%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $5.43 5.85%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $28.34 4.69%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $47.97 4.43%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $62.83 3.42%
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $34.79 3.40%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $7.26 3.35%
Cimarex Energy Co (XEC) $119.38 3.06%
Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR) $26.04 2.92%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Fluor Corp. (FLR) $47.00 -7.11%
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) $53.08 -3.10%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $154.95 -2.57%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $121.14 -2.56%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $113.98 -2.07%
Moody's Corp. (MCO) $116.97 -2.04%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $263.48 -1.91%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $122.14 -1.86%
Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) $34.32 -1.86%
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $34.79 -1.44%