Dow Jones futures were steady overnight, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures, with the August jobs report on tap. The stock market rally sold off again intraday Thursday, but rebounded to close mixed.
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Despite the so-so close, there was more damage among key sectors and stocks amid a slew of negative news.
A U.S. ban on sales to China of certain advanced chips from Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD) slammed the semiconductor sector. And several huge sell-offs from struggling software makers pummeled the other big tech space. A China lockdown of 21 million people over Covid cases also weighed on stocks and fueled a sell-off in crude oil, copper and base metals. Meanwhile, Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar soared on strong labor market data heading into the August jobs report.
More leading stocks — such as Celsius Holdings (CELH) and Enphase Energy (ENPH) — are under pressure, though they haven’t cracked yet. Some stocks setting up in the past few weeks have broken through key support, such as Apple (AAPL), Arista Networks (ANET) and, to some extent, Tesla (TSLA).
Investors should have minimal exposure in the current market environment.
Jobs Report
Economists expect Friday’s August jobs report to show nonfarm payrolls rose by a solid 293,000 after July’s hot 528,000. Economists see unemployment holding at a half-century low of 3.5%.
Labor force participation will be key. A sustained rebound in the labor force would be a near-magic elixir for the economy, easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to be so aggressive with rate hikes.
But participation has trended lower in recent months, leaving no slack in the job market.
The jobs report follows data this week showing initial jobless claims falling to a two-month low and July job openings jumping far above expectations.
Why You Can’t Trust Friday’s Jobs Report
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures fell 0.15% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures edged higher.
Late Thursday, Broadcom (AVGO) and Lululemon Athletica (LULU) reported strong earnings and raised guidance. AVGO stock and Lululemon bounced overnight. Neither is close to being actionable, but it’s positive action for the market.
The jobs report will be out at 8:30 a.m. ET, certainly spurring big moves in Dow futures, Treasury yields and more.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
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Stock Market Rally
The stock market rally started off lower Thursday and continued to weaken before rebounding late in the session to close modestly mixed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% in Thursday’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index climbed 0.3%. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 sank 1.1%.
U.S. crude oil prices fell 3.3% to $86.61 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield…
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