Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a lower open on Friday as investors looked ahead to the November employment report and watched as investors took profits in oil after a two-day rally.
The blue-chip Dow futures declined 34 points, or 0.18%, by 6:48AM ET (11:48GMT), the S&P 500 futures fell 6 points, or 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost 25 points, or 0.53%.
The Labor Department is scheduled to release data on nonfarm payrolls (NFP) at 8:30AM ET (13:30GMT) in what will be Friday’s main market event.
Expectations are for the report to confirm the continued strength of the U.S. labor market.
The consensus forecast is that Friday’s report will show the economy created 175,000 jobs in November, up from 161,000 in October.
The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.9% and average earnings are expected to increase by 0.2%.
With expectations for a rate hike in December already baked into markets, the data could adjust bets for the second increase in 2017. According to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, Fed fund futures were pricing in a 58.1% chance of another 25 basis point hike in June.
Fed governors Lael Brainard and Daniel Tarullo were scheduled for speeches later in the session which may offer the first opportunity to hear the take on the jobs report from policymakers.
The dollar was little changed against other majors as investors looked ahead to NFP. The dollar index was last up 0.04% at 101.06 by 6:49AM ET (11:49GMT).
Meanwhile, investors were taking profits in crude on Friday after an aggressive agreement among major oil producers to cut production and tackle the global supply glut earlier in the week sparked a two-day rally that pushed black gold up nearly 15%.
Investors also looked ahead to Baker Hughes’ data on the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week. Data in the prior week settled at 474 in what was the 12th increase in 13 weeks.
U.S. shale companies are largely expected to ramp up production to take advantage of higher prices and the gap left by OPEC’s promise to reduce output.
U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.31% to $50.39 at by 6:49AM ET (11:49GMT), while Brent oil traded down 1.45% to $53.16.
In company news, Allegheny Technologies (NYSE:ATI) could see downside in Friday’s trade after the specialty metals and components supplier suspended its quarterly dividend after the prior day’s market close.
Gap (NYSE:GPS) may also face a selloff after it announced that same-store sales fell 1% in November and chief financial officer Sabrina Simmons commented that traffic trends had “remained challenging”.
In earnings, Big Lots (NYSE:BIG) surprised markets who had expected the retailer to post a quarterly loss. The retailer managed to post profit of $0.04 per share and produced a full year guidance that beat consensus.