U.S. Futures Becalmed as Market Waits for Key Jobs Number

U.S. Futures Becalmed as Market Waits for Key Jobs Number

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Friday, but firmly range-bound as the market awaits the closely-watched nonfarm payrolls report. 

At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), the contract was up 10 points, less than 0.1%, traded up 2 points or 0.1%, and climbed 30 points, or 0.2%.

The main equity indices all saw strong gains in the first half of the year as vaccinations allowed the economy to reopen against the backdrop of massive levels of monetary and fiscal stimulus.

This continued on Thursday, as the rose 0.5%, notching its sixth-straight record close and finishing above 4,300 for the first time. The gained 0.4% and the tech-heavy rose 0.1%.

The main focus Friday will be on the release, at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT), with the Federal Reserve looking for a significant recovery in the U.S. labor market before considering reining in its ultra-easy monetary policy. 

Expectations at the start of the week were for 700,000 jobs to have been filled last month, up from 559,000 in May. That said, both and weekly were stronger than expected, so  expectations may have now risen.