Market Snapshot: Stock futures slide as investors await March jobs report

Market Snapshot: Stock futures slide as investors await March jobs report

Stock futures slide as investors await March jobs report. Stock-index futures pointed to a lower start for equities on Friday as investors await a March employment report that's expected to show a large drop in payrolls but not fully capture the scale of job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.. fell 233 points, or 1.1%, to 21,040, while S&P 500 futures. Thursday closed up 469.93 points, or 2.2%, at 21,413.44, in choppy trading.. "The March reading is unlikely to catch the full extent of job losses due to COVID-19 so the market may take the data with a grain of salt, but if the number is less than 200,000 it could provide some room for a relief rally," said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of BK Asset Management, in a note.. " a truly gargantuan print of -500,000 job losses or more could drive risk assets sharply lower as the day proceeds with both S&P and Nasdaq falling 5% or more," he said.. Stocks on Thursday shook off more timely weekly data on jobless claims, which showed the number of first-time applications soared by a previously unthinkable 6.6 million.. Oil futures rose further overnight with Saudi Arabia, Russia and other major