Futures Under Pressure on Trade Worries Ahead of Jobs Data
New York (Apr 6) Wall Street futures are under pressure Friday, April 6, ahead of the closely watched U.S. jobs report for March, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Futures dropped suddenly overnight after President Donald Trump said he was considering imposing tariffs on an additional $100 billion of imports China, however, they have since pared some of the losses. At 7:57 a.m. ET the Dow was expected to fall 277 points when markets open for trading on Friday. S&P 500 futures were down 0.86% and Nasdaq futures were down 1%.
Analysts polled by FactSet expect the U.S. economy added 185,000 nonfarm jobs to the payroll in March, which would be a slowdown from the 313,000 jobs added in February. February's nonfarm payroll additions was the fastest in a month since July 2016.
The March jobs report will also include unemployment data. FactSet economists expect the U.S. unemployment rate for March to come in at 4%, a decline from the previous month's 4.1% unemployment rate, which was a 17-year low.
Facebook Inc. (FB - Get Report) shares were under pressure in premarket trading, down 1.46%. The European Commission said Facebook told the EC that 2.7 million European Union-based users of the social media site may have had their data obtained by Cambridge Analytica. The EC said further discussions would be needed with Facebook.
Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told Bloomberg that some advertisers have, in fact, reduced their spending. "We've seen a few advertisers pause with us and they're asking the same questions that other people are asking," Sandberg was reported as saying. "They want to make sure they can use the data and use it safely." Sandberg added that Action Alerts Plus holding Facebook is engaging in "reassuring conversations with advertisers, just as [it is] with people."
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN - Get Report) were also down in premarket trading, losing 1.65% and indicated to open at $1,433.50. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One Thursday, President Trump accused Action Alerts Plus holding Amazon of not operating on a level playing field and not paying enough in sales tax, Reuters reported.
The escalation tit-for-tat responses by the U.S. and China has spooked markets, with European and Asian markets broadly lower.
China on Friday vowed to respond to President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion of imports from the country.
Trump on Thursday said: "Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers. In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs."
The president also said he had instructed the agriculture secretary to "implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests" from Chinese retaliation.
China on Friday said it would counter Trump's proposed new tariffs "to the end, and at any cost," and that it doesn't "want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight a trade war."
TheStreet
