Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Friday as investors looked ahead to the latest data on the American labor market
The blue-chip Dow futures fell 49 points, or 0.20%, by 6:52AM ET (10:52GMT), the S&P 500 futures lost 6 points, or 0.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 16 points, or 0.24%
Traders are waiting for the publication of the monthly jobs report at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT).
The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 189,000, after adding 103,000 positions in March, while the unemployment rate is forecast to dip to 4.0% from 4.1%.
However, most of the focus will likely be on average hourly earnings figures, which are expected to rise 0.2%, following a gain of 0.3% a month earlier. On an annualized basis, wages are forecast to increase 2.7%, the same as the rise seen in March.
Steady wage growth would add to signs of building inflation pressures and likely keep the Federal Reserve on a gradual path of monetary policy tightening.
Markets are currently pricing in the next hike to come in June with the following increase to arrive in September. Odds for a third hike by the end of the year hover around 40%.
Several Fed policymakers including John Williams, Randal Quarles, Robert Kaplan, Raphael Bostic and Esther George will be speaking throughout the day at the Currencies, Capital and Central Bank Balances: A Policy Conference, in Stanford, California.
While waiting for the data, the dollar crept back towards a four-month high reached at 92.67 on Wednesday. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, edged forward 0.11% to 92.38 by 6:53AM ET (10:53GMT).
Dollar strength weighed on gold ahead of the data as the precious metal becomes more expensive for holders of foreign currencies. At 6:54AM ET (10:54GMT) Friday, gold for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 0.13% to $1,311.00.
Also on markets’ radar, two days of trade talks between the U.S. and China wrapped up in Beijing on Friday with no major breakthrough, as was widely anticipated. Top officials from China and the United States reached a consensus on some aspects of the countries' trade row, but disagreements over other issues remain "relatively big", according to China's Xinhua news agency. Both sides committed to continuing the dialog.
In company news, 402 of the S&P 500 firms have already reported first quarter earnings with more than 70% having beaten consensus on the top and bottom line. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Celgene (NASDAQ:CELG) will be among firms reporting before the opening bell on Friday.
Also of note, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) bought 75 million shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the first quarter, pushing its holdings in the iPhone maker to 240.3 million shares worth $42.5 billion.
“If you look at Apple, I think it earns almost twice as much as the second most profitable company in the United States,” CNBC quoted Buffett as saying.
Shares of Apple were up more than 1% in pre-market trade on Friday.
Elsewhere, European stocks traded mostly higher on the back of positive earnings reports, though weak reports from the banking sector capped gains.
Earlier, Asian stocks closed lower ahead of the latest reading on the U.S. labor market. Trading was lighter than normal as Japan’s stock market was closed for a holiday.