Investing.com – U.S. stock futures reflected the cautious stance in global stocks on Thursday, trading flat and wavering between minimal gains and losses as investors decided to take a breather while waiting for Friday’s monthly U.S. employment report.
With baited breath, the blue-chip Dow futures slipped 4 points, or 0.02%, by 11:58GMT, or 6:58AM ET, the S&P 500 futures inched down 1 point, or 0.05%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 1 point, or 0.03%.
Friday’s U.S. jobs report will be the week’s major event stateside with current consensus expecting the creation of 190,000 non-farm payrolls during February with the unemployment rate forecast to remain unchanged at 4.9%.
Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz (DE:ALVG), was making the rounds at major financial media in the U.S. on Thursday and pointed out that any number above 150,000 would be a consolidation of an “impressive two-and-a-half-year run in employment creation” that left the jobless rate at level more than 50% below the post-crisis high.
El-Erian reflected on the market concern of a strong report pushing the Federal Reserve to continue tightening its monetary policy, with the U.S. central bank looking for “every opportunity” to make another rate hike, but insisted that an improved U.S. labor market is “what we all need”.
“No matter what some say about short-term potential inconsistencies between a strong jobs report and a stock market that is highly dependent on central banks, there is in fact an important long-term alignment,” El-Erian stressed in an op-ed article in Bloomberg.
“A three-pronged improvement in the labor market is a necessary condition for anchoring higher inclusive growth, lower inequality and genuine financial stability,” he explained.
Meanwhile, investors were still waiting for several data points to be published stateside on Thursday. The U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims along with non-farm productivity and unit labor costs for the fourth quarter at 15:30GMT, or 8:30AM ET, followed by the U.S. Institute of Supply Management’s report on service sector growth for February and January factory orders at 15:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
Furthermore, Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan is due to speak on the economy and monetary policy at 10:45AM ET.
Additionally, investors continued to watch movements in crude after black gold staged an impressive rally on Wednesday despite a stellar buildup in U.S. inventories. Crude oil futures for April delivery gained 0.20% to $34.73 at 11:59AM GMT or 6:59AM ET, while Brent oil traded down 0.14% to $36.88.
On the business front, Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) slumped 2.5% in the pre-market after earnings-per-share (EPS) reported after the market close on Thursday missed estimates by $0.04.
Shares in Joy Global (NYSE:JOY) also gave up 2.4% in the pre-market after the company missed EPS by $0.11 and also reported worst-than-expected revenues.
HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) will be a focus on investor interest on Thursday as it reports earnings after the market close.