U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday night as investors awaited September’s nonfarm payrolls report. S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 38 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.3%.
In the regular session, the Dow and the Nasdaq Composite ended marginally higher, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.2% to finish the first trading day of October in positive territory. Even so, all three major indexes remain on track for weekly losses, with the Dow down 1.7% over the period.
Friday’s main focus is the September jobs report. The Dow Jones consensus calls for 84,000 jobs to have been added, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.1%. Fed funds futures imply a 72% chance that the Federal Reserve will leave rates unchanged in October.
Christopher Hodge, chief U.S. economist at Natixis CIB Americas, said the labor market narrative still points to stability, meaning a strong report alone would probably not be enough to push the Fed to raise rates this month. He expects payrolls to increase by 60,000, which would bring the three-month moving average of gains to 81,000.
Markets are also reacting to moves in bond yields and oil. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed as high as 5.344%, its highest level since 2002, while the 30-year Treasury bond yield touched a 24-year high. Brent crude futures settled more than 4% higher at $102.31 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 2.7% to $92.87.
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.95%, South Korea’s Kospi lost 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 2.48%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.35% at the open.
