Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures edged largely higher holiday-thinned trade Friday, with focus turning squarely towards key nonfarm payrolls data for more cues on interest rates.
At 06:10 ET (10:10 GMT), traded largely unchanged, gained 2 points, or 0.1%, and climbed 20 points, or 0.1%.
Equity markets were closed for the Independence day holiday on Thursday, but the Wall Street indexes were sitting at record highs hit earlier this week as a swathe of soft economic readings pushed up bets that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates by September.
Nonfarm payrolls awaited for more rate cues
Trading ranges are likely to be very tight Friday, as investors return from holiday and await the release of the key data.
Economists are expecting the U.S. economy to have added 189,000 jobs in June after a larger than forecast gain of 272,000 the previous month.
This result would show some cooling in the jobs market through June, and also comes after a series of weaker-than-expected labor market readings this week.
Weak and readings, coupled with a softer , ramped up hopes that the U.S. economy was cooling, giving the Fed enough confidence to begin cutting rates.
But the payrolls data has surprised to the upside for seven of the past nine months, amid persistent strength in the labor market. This trend kept investors on guard before Friday’s reading.
A sufficiently cooling labor market is a key consideration for the Fed in bringing down interest rates- a scenario that is yet to play out.
The showed traders pricing in a 66.3% chance for a 25 basis point cut in September, up from the 59.5% seen last week.
Tesla boosted by Chinese demand
Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock rose almost 2% premarket with several state-owned firms in China’s financial hub of Shanghai have recently purchased the EV manufacturer’s best-selling Model Y as service cars, following a local media report saying Tesla cars had been made eligible for a Chinese local government purchase list.
Macy’s (NYSE:) stock rose 4% premarket after the Wall Street Journal reported that Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management have raised their bid to buy the department store chain for about $6.9 billion.
Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:) stock fell 6.5% premarket, with the cryptocurrency exchange suffering after , the world’s most popular digital currency, fell to its lowest point since February.
Crude on course for weekly gains
Crude prices hovered around the flatline on Friday, but were on track for a fourth consecutive positive week on hopes of strong summer fuel demand in the U.S.
By 06:10 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) rose 0.1% to $83.98 a barrel, while the Brent contract drifted marginally lower at $87.40 a barrel.
Oil rose this week on strong summer demand expectations in the U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, with official data from the showing that the country’s crude and fuel stockpiles all fell by more than projected last week.
Market sentiment has also been underpinned this week by intensifying geopolitical tension in the Middle East.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
