Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Friday, ahead of upcoming U.S. jobs data as growing expectations that the Federal Reserve is growing closer to raising interest rates weighed on U.S. equity markets.
Ahead of the open, the Dow 30 futures pointed to a 0.33% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.37% decline, while the NASDAQ 100 futures indicated a 0.26% slump.
Investors were looking ahead to the latest U.S. employment report, due later on Friday, for further indications on the strength of the recovery in the labor market, a key factor in deciding the future path of monetary policy.
On Thursday, the ADP nonfarm payrolls report showed that the private sector added less jobs than expected in August.
Another report showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose more than anticipated last week to 302,000.
Clothing retailers were likely to be in focus, as Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) plunged 5.56% in late trading after posting sales below analysts’ estimates for August.
Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) saw shares retreated 3.37% in extended trade after saying it is holding a secondary sale of 11.6 million shares behalf of Sportswear Holdings Ltd., its largest shareholder.
The energy sector was also expected to be active after a U.S. judge said on Thursday that BP (NYSE:BP) had been "grossly negligent" with regards to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Shares in the oil and gas major gained 0.53% pre-market, after diving nearly 6% on Thursday.
Among tech stocks, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) inched up 0.07% in early trade amid reports the iPhone maker plans to add new security features after the accounts of celebrities using its services were hacked and photographs of them were posted on the Internet.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 edged down 0.13%, France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.15%, Germany's DAX inched 0.02% lower, while Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.13%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.23%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.05%.