US pre-open: Futures turn south ahead of jobs report

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open down 174 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to begin the final session of the week 20 and 42 points lower respectively.

Friday data

On Friday, all eyes will be on the monthly jobs report, released at 1330 BST, with economists expecting the US economy to have added 215,000 jobs last month.

The report is widely regarded as the last crucial economic report ahead of next week’s two-day Fed meeting, which will determine whether the US central bank will give the green light to a September liftoff.

"What was always going to be an important release has gained extra prominence in the last month,” said Spreadex’s financial analyst Connor Campbell.

“The Chinese market-mania has combined with intermittently impressive US figures to create an utterly baffling situation for investors in regards to trying to work out the Fed’s stance on a September rate hike.”

Some analysts have suggested that the Fed will not decide to raise interest rates this month if the report shows the US economy has added less the 200,000 jobs.

“Today’s job figures are unlikely to be able to confirm a September start date but they do have the ability to write off September and leave December as the only candidate for a 2015 hike,” said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG.

Asian stocks slide

Elsewhere, equity markets fell across the board in Asia, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average both reversed earlier gains to close down 0.45% and 2.15% respectively, while European stocks declined.

The dollar plunged 0.81% against the yen and lost 0.11% against the euro, but gained 0.20% against the pound.

Gold futures shed 0.20% to 1,222.20, while oil prices edged lower, as West Texas Intermediate lost 0.60% to $46.47 a barrel, while Brent lost 0.32% to $50.52 a barrel.

In company news, Netflix fell 3.90% in pre-market trading as investors remained wary about increasing competition in the TV streaming market. The stock was on track to decline for the sixth consecutive session.

Twitter edged 1.73% lower and could be in focus, as the social media giant is expected to name a new chief executive, perhaps as early as Friday.

Meanwhile, Amazon shed 1.14% ahead of the bell, after saying late on Thursday that it was planning to buy video reformatter Elemental Technologies, as it seeks to add more streaming options to its portfolio.