US stock futures flat as traders don’t dare to move before jobs data
New York (Aug 7) US stock futures traded roughly flat Friday, showing muted action as traders waited for the July jobs report, this week’s most-anticipated economic release.
The stock market is on pace for a weekly drop, and Groupon, Cablevision and Hershey are likely to see active trading as investors take in their quarterly results.
Futures for the S&P 500 ESU5, -0.23% were roughly flat at 2,079.75, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMU5, -0.22% inched up 4 points to 17,378. Nasdaq 100 futures NQU5, -0.23% also were about unchanged at 4,526.
Economists polled by MarketWatch project that the U.S. economy added 220,000 jobs last month, as the unemployment rate stayed at 5.3%. Read: What to watch in the jobs report
The S&P 500 SPX, -0.78% is on track for a 1% pullback for the week as of Thursday’s close, while the Dow DJIA, -0.69% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, -1.62% are eyeing weekly declines of 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively. On Thursday, the three benchmarks finished with sizable losses, testing technical levels in a choppy session as media stocks suffered a big hit.
What strategists are saying: The July jobs report “is one of two before the September FOMC meeting and every piece of data from here on out plays a large role in the central bank’s decision,” said Doug Coté and Karyn Cavanaugh, strategists at Voya Investment Management, in a note Thursday. FOMC refers to the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve policy-making body that could hike interest rates at its September meeting.
Due to the potential for rising rates, it “may be prudent to consider reallocating a portion of an investor’s fixed-income assets to a floating rate product such as senior loans,” the Voya strategists added.
Other strategists have emphasized that stocks could provide a bumpy ride as rates rise, but they still tend to do well. Going back to 1980, Guggenheim Partners has found that in the six months ahead of a rate hike, the S&P 500 rose 8.3% on average, while tacking on 3.7% in the six months after the first move.
Other markets: European stocks SXXP, -0.44% were mostly lower Friday, but on pace for a weekly gain. Chinese stocks SHCOMP, +2.26% closed higher, while falling bank shares led to steep losses in Australian equities XJO, -2.41% Oil prices CLU5, -0.18% nudged up, but were still on track for a hefty weekly loss. Gold GCU5, +0.01% edged higher, and the dollar DXY, -0.04% inched lower.
Movers & Shakers: Shares in Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -0.63% may climb after the maker of graphics chips late Thursday posted adjusted quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street’s forecasts.
Ahead of the opening bell, Groupon Inc. GRPN, -3.63% is projected to deliver second-quarter earnings of 2 cents a share, according to a survey by FactSet, while Hershey Co. HSY, -0.50% is forecast to report quarterly profit of 75 cents a share.
Also before the open, Sotheby’s BID, -3.43% is expected to post second-quarter earnings of $1.26 a share, and Cablevision Systems Corp. CVC, -3.88% is seen reporting per-share profit of 25 cents for its latest quarter.
Source: MarketWatch
