US stock index futures turned higher in a holiday-shortened session after the strong March jobs report, though investors won’t fully digest the data until next week with cash trading in stocks closed for the Good Friday holiday.
Trading in stock index futures closed at 9:15 a.m. ET. Stock index futures will resume trading at their usual time, 6pm on Sunday, as US markets have returned to normal trading hours on Monday.
What do stock index futures do?
- Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00
It rose 64 points, or 0.2%, to 33,723.
- S&P 500 index futures
ES00
It rose 9.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,141.75 points.
- Futures contracts for the Nasdaq 100 index
NQ00
The index rose 13.50 points, or 0.1%, to 13,184.25 points.
Excluding the Dow Jones Industrial Average, US stocks ended the holiday-shortened week lower on Thursday after three consecutive weekly gains for the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq. daw
DJIA
It rose 0.6% for the week, while the S&P 500 rose
SPX
The Nasdaq lost 0.1%
COMP
It fell 1.1%, after posting its best quarter since 2020.
Market drivers
The United States added 236,000 new jobs in March, defying Federal Reserve hopes of a significant slowdown in hiring and possibly making it more difficult for the central bank to tame inflation. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected 238,000 new jobs.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% from 3.6%. Wages rose 0.3% last month.
“This month’s report indicates that interest rate hikes have not yet affected tight unemployment conditions,” Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group, said in emailed comments.
Treasury yields rose and the dollar rallied, although traders noted that conditions were subdued due to the holiday. Fed fund futures showed traders seeking to price in a roughly 70% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates by a quarter point in May, and roughly a 30% chance that policymakers will leave rates unchanged. Traders saw a roughly 50-50 split on Thursday.
“Today’s jobs report is consistent with a slow unfolding recession in the United States that does not point to an immediate resolution to inflation concerns,” Jason Pride, chief investment officer for private wealth at Glenmead, said in a note. “As such, the odds of another quarter-point rate hike in May should rise as the data does not appear to warrant a Fed pause.”
However, policymakers and investors will see a slew of data ahead of the next Fed meeting, including next week’s CPI reading, Pride noted.
be seen: Jobs Report “Possible to steer the balance towards another rate hike in May” – Economists react to the March release
Good Friday is a market holiday but not a federal holiday in the United States. This means that the US Department of Labor released the March jobs report as usual. Bond traders will see half of the trading day, with Sifma recommending the noon close to allow for a reaction to the data.
is reading: Why Good Friday is held How stock traders absorb the March jobs report
Investors have seen a slew of jobs data over the past week. Data on Tuesday showed that the number of job vacancies in the United States fell below 10 million to a 21-month low, suggesting the hot job market may be starting to lose some of its steam.
On Wednesday, the ADP said the private sector added 145,000 jobs in March, far short of the 210,000 jobs economists had expected. The weekly jobless claims data Thursday morning showed that first-time applications for benefits last week came in higher than expected.