Market Snapshot: Stock futures rise, pointing to more Wall Street records as investors await October payrolls

How are stock-index futures trading?

• Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
  YM00,
  +0.08%
  rose 14 points to 36,023

• S&P 500 futures
  ES00,
  +0.25%
  rose 0.2% to 4,683.75

• Nasdaq-100 futures
  NQ00,
  +0.37%
  rose 0.5% to 16,411

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.09%
snapped a five-day winning streak, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.42%
and Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.81%
each logged a sixth straight record close.

What’s driving the market?

Investor attention will focus squarely on the October jobs report, with economists forecasting a gain of 450,000, which would mark a significant improvement on the 194,000 rise seen in September that was the weakest of 2021.

The data will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, alongside the unemployment rate and averate hourly wages, which grew at a 4.6% yearly rate in the 12 months ended in September.

Given Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made clear at the central bank’s news conference this week a willingness to “tolerate hot inflation levels well into 2022,” both jobs and wage inflation would need to come in pretty strong to speed up the Fed’s timeline towards its first rate hike, said Saxo Bank’s chief investment officer, Steen Jakobsen, in a note to clients.

“U.S. equity markets have gone into melt-up mode in the wake of the FOMC meeting, as the Fed is set for a slow QE tapering, while falling long bond yields and even lower oil prices over the last couple of days are adding further tailwinds,” he said.

He said investors may want to cash in some of those recent equity gains, as the market could easily “sell off and go back to test the levels around the high from late August and early September.”

September consumer credit will be released at 3 p.m. Eastern.

What companies are in focus?

• Pfizer
  PFE,
  -1.31%
  shares climbed 8% in premarket after the pharmaceutical company said its COVID antiviral reduced the risk of hospitalizations or death by 89% in a Phase 2/3 study.

• Shares of Peleton Interactive Inc.
  PTON,
  -4.27%
  tumbled 32% in premarket trading after the exercise equipment maker producted a weaker-than-expected holiday outlook and cut its full-year forecast.

• Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
  LGF.A,
  +0.07%
  shares rose 11% after the media group said it’s mulling a sale or spinoff of its Starz unit.

• Airbnb Inc.
  ABNB,
  +3.23%
  shares rose 6% after the travel-booking company posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue and net income.

• Pinterest Inc.
  PINS,
  -2.33%
  stock rose 5% after reporting strong sales and earnings, but fewer-than-expected monthly users.

How are other assets trading?

• Oil futures were rebounding from Thursday’s losses. The U.S. benchmark 
  CL00,
  +0.84%

  CLZ22,
  +0.73%
   up 0.8% at $79.50 a barrel. Gold futures 
  GC00,
  +0.12%
  were up slightly at $1,795 an ounce.

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury note 
  TMUBMUSD10Y,
  1.530%
  rose 1 basis point to 1.529%. Yields and debt prices move in opposite directions.

• The ICE U.S. Dollar Index 
  DXY,
  +0.18%,
   a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.2%.