By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally higher Friday, ahead of the release of the key monthly employment report which could influence the Federal Reserve’s thinking over the future path of interest rates.
At 7:15 AM ET (1115 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 39 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 11 points, or 0.2%, higher, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 37 points, or 0.2%.
The three major indices are all on course for a winning week, buoyed by solid corporate earnings. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.9% on the week, while the broad-based S&P 500 is 1.6% higher and the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite is up 2.9%.
Also helping the tone this week was Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stating the need for the central bank to show patience before raising interest rates, even after announcing a start to reducing its bond purchases.
Powell said the bank's policymakers were looking for more improvement in the labor market, adding that this summer's wave of infections from the delta Covid variant disrupted what had been a robust pace of recovery.
That provides the backdrop for the official jobs report for October, a couple of days after a strong private payroll report and a day after new jobless claims dropped to post-pandemic lows.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls are forecast by economists to show a 450,000 surge in jobs in October, following a 194,000 rise in the prior month, but variables such as earnings growth and labor force participation will also be studied carefully.
In the corporate sector, Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) stock slumped over 30% premarket after the exercise equipment maker lowered its annual guidance by as much as $1 billion, while Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) stock surged almost 9% as the drugmaker reported strong results for its Covid-19 pill, administered in conjunction with a widely-used HIV drug.
Uber (NYSE:UBER) will also be in the spotlight after the ride-hailing firm reported its first profitable quarter on an adjusted basis since it launched more than a decade ago, but suffered a massive drop in the value of its stake in Chinese peer Didi resulting in a $2.4 billion net loss in the third quarter.
Crude prices strengthened Friday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies confirmed a monthly increase of 400,000 barrels a day at a meeting on Thursday, rebuffing calls from the likes of U.S. President Joe Biden for a more substantial increase in output.
By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% higher at $79.47 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.5% to $80.90.
Still, Brent is on track for a decline of nearly 4% this week, the second straight weekly drop. U.S. oil is heading for a decline this week of nearly 5%.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,795.90/oz, while EUR/USD traded largely flat at 1.1551.