(RTTNews) – The monthly jobs report might be the focus on Friday. Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly up.
In the Asian trading session, the dollar weakened and gold held near record levels.
As of 8.20 am ET, the Dow futures were down 124.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 6.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were gaining 114.75 points.
The U.S. major averages finished Thursday higher. The Nasdaq jumped 209.97 points or 1.0 percent to 21,707.69, the S&P 500 advanced 53.82 points or 0.8 percent to 6,502.08 and the Dow climbed 350.06 points or 0.8 percent to 45,621.29.
On the economic front, the Employment Situation for August will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 77,000, while it was up 73,000 in the prior month. The Unemployment rate is expected to be 4.3 percent, while it was up 4.2 percent in the prior month. Private payrolls consensus is 75000, while it was up 83,000 in the previous month. Average workweek is projected to be 34.3 hours, while it was up 34.3 hours in July.
The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 711, while U.S. rig count was up 536.
Asian stocks eked out modest gains on Friday. Chinese shares rebounded. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rallied 1.24 percent to 3,812.51. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 1.43 percent to 25,417.98.
Japanese markets rose sharply. The Nikkei average jumped 1.03 percent to 43,018.75 while the broader Topix index settled 0.82 percent higher at 3,105.31.
Australian stocks closed higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.51 percent to 8,871.20. The broader All Ordinaries index ended up 0.54 percent at 9,140.50.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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