US stock futures remained steady near all-time highs on Friday as Wall Street came back from a holiday break, anticipating the release of the crucial monthly jobs report that will impact Federal Reserve rate-cut decisions.
S&P 500 (ES=F) futures showed little movement after reaching a record high in a shortened session on Wednesday, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) futures also holding steady.
Investors are preparing for the June jobs report set to be released at 8:30 a.m ET, keeping an eye out for any signs of weakness in the labor market. Projections suggest a slowdown in nonfarm payrolls growth to a rise of 190,000 in June, with the unemployment rate expected to remain at 4%.
Recent data indicating looser conditions have fueled expectations of decreasing inflation, paving the way for a potential interest rate cut by the Fed from their current two-decade high. Traders are now estimating a nearly 75% likelihood of a cut in September, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
The main question surrounding Friday’s jobs data is whether the slowdown in monthly job growth reflects a normalization in the labor market post-pandemic, or signals the start of a broader economic slowdown, as per Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s decisive victory in UK elections has caught the attention of investors monitoring political risk in the US presidential race. With key donors urging President Joe Biden to step aside, focus is shifting to Donald Trump’s increasing lead and its potential impact on markets.
Benefiting from the AI surge, Samsung Electronics’ (005930.KS) quarterly profit skyrocketed to 15 times its size from a year ago, propelling the stock to a three-year high.
In corporate news, cryptocurrency-related stocks Coinbase Global (COIN) and Marathon Digital (MARA) experienced a 6% decline in pre-market trading as bitcoin (BTC-USD) dropped to its lowest level against the dollar since February.