5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday, Feb. 4

On Feb 4, 2022

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Dow futures decline, bond yields rise after strong jobs report

Traders on the floor of the NYSE, Feb. 3, 2022.

Source: NYSE

Dow futures fell nearly 200 points and the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.9% after Friday’s jobs report showed strong gains last month. Nasdaq futures rose early Friday, boosted by Amazon‘s 11% premarket surge on strong cloud-led earnings after the bell Thursday. But Nasdaq futures went negative after the jobs data. Snap rocketed more than 40% higher in the premarket, the morning after delivering better-than-expected quarterly results and rosy forward guidance.

2. January nonfarm payrolls surge way past expectations

A woman wearing a face mask walks past a “Now Hiring” sign in front of a store on January 13, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia.

Olivier Douliery | AFP | Getty Images

The U.S. economy created 467,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department reported Friday. That was much better than estimates for a 150,000 nonfarm payrolls gain. Expectations were all over the place coming into the print on worries the spike in Covid cases due to the raging omicron variant could jolt the data. In fact, many economists — such as those at PNC, Jefferies, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — had expected sharp declines in jobs last month. That clearly didn’t happen. The U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 4% in January, slightly higher than estimates.

In addition to the jobs numbers, the Federal Reserve is monitoring signs of inflationary pressures such as U.S. oil prices extending gains above $90 per barrel to October 2014 highs. The Fed is expected to hike interest rates multiple times this year, starting in March, to combat rising inflation.

3. Amazon surges after strong cloud-led earnings, plans to hike Prime prices

PARIS, FRANCE – MAY 17: The Amazon Web Services (AWS) logo, a division of Amazon.com’s US e-commerce group is displayed during the 4th edition of the Viva Technology show at Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on May 17, 2019 in Paris, France. Viva Technology, the new international event brings together 9000 startups with top investors, companies to grow businesses and all players in the digital transformation who shape the future of the internet. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

Chesnot | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Amazon’s strong fourth quarter was carried entirely by its cloud business. In fact, North America and International e-commerce operations actually delivered losses. Amazon also reported a gain of almost $12 billion from its investment in electric vehicle marker Rivian Automotive. A Refinitiv analysis stripping out one-time items put adjusted earnings at $5.80 per share compared with estimates for $3.57. Revenue of $137.4 billion in Q4 slightly missed expectations. Amazon guided lower for first-quarter earnings and revenue.

The company also hiked the price of its Prime membership for the first time in four…