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U.S. stock futures were falling early Friday ahead of the potentially crucial November employment report later in the morning.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 25 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were also falling 0.1%, while those attached to the Nasdaq 100 futures were down less than 0.1%.
All three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower Thursday after marking record highs in the previous session. The Dow was the worst-performer, falling 0.6%, dragged down by UnitedHealth Group shares following the fatal shooting of executive Brian Thompson. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped their four-day winning streaks.
So markets are looking for direction at the end of the week, and investors are likely to get it from the November jobs report. Economists expect the U.S. economy to have added 207,500 jobs last month, up from the disappointing 12,000 in a hurricane-hit October.
A jobs growth resurgence is almost guaranteed, given October’s number, but the strength of the bounce is what will interest investors as well as the Federal Reserve. “Should the labor market come in even stronger [than estimates], expectations for a further rate cut by the Fed later this month could be dented,” Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Derran Nathan said Friday.
The market is already having some late doubts about whether the Fed will cut interest rates on Dec.18. Traders currently see a 70% chance of a quarter-point rate-cut later this month, down from 78% a day ago, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated Wednesday that there was little urgency to reduce rates quickly.
The central bank’s January decision, nine days after the inauguration of Donald Trump, is even less certain. Markets see just an 18% chance of back-to-back rate cuts in December and January, down from 28% a month ago.
Creeping doubt was the theme of the morning for cryptocurrencies too, after Bitcoin’s surge to a record $103,500 Thursday. The world’s largest crypto asset slipped back below the $100,000 level, trading at $98,500 early in the day.
