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Stock market today: US futures mark time ahead of pivotal jobs report

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5 months ago

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Stock market today: US futures mark time ahead of pivotal jobs report

US stocks traded broadly flat on Friday ahead of a monthly jobs report pivotal to hopes for interest-rate cuts, as investors eyed a surge in GameStop (GME) shares and a coming Nvidia (NVDA) stock split.

S&P 500 (ES=F) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures hugged the flatline, coming off a lackluster session Thursday for the three major gauges. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were also little changed.

Stocks are on track for weekly wins after data suggesting a labor market cooldown reinforced bets that the Federal Reserve could start lowering rates from their two-decade high.

The highly anticipated May jobs report due at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday could test that optimism. It’s expected to show further signs of softening in the labor market, with a slight rise in nonfarm payrolls and a flat unemployment rate.

The key question will be whether slowing monthly job growth is merely a sign of normalization in the labor market or the early signs of a broader economic slowdown, as Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer reports. That debate will likely feed into the Fed’s deliberations at its policy meeting next week.

Read more: How does the labor market affect inflation?

The wait is also on for a livestream apparently promised by GameStop booster Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty”. The event, scheduled for noon ET Friday, would be the first live YouTube appearance by Gill since he helped ignite the meme stock rally three years ago.

GameStop shares jumped in early pre-market trading on Friday, having closed 47% higher, but dropped sharply after the video game retailer posted a drop in quarterly sales.

Also on deck is the completion of Nvidia’s 10-for-1 stock split, expected after the market closes. A midweek rally briefly vaulted the AI chipmaker to a $3 trillion valuation, but its shares have lost steam as short bets against the company pile up.

Live1 update

  • Reminder as you read the jobs report

    The market still wants to believe in rate cuts for 2024.

    So keep that in mind as you navigate today’s jobs report and plot through how it may influence Fed policy.

    Good point by Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid this morning after the ECB’s rate cut yesterday:

    “And even though the tone was a bit hawkish in several respects, it now makes them the fourth G10 central bank to have cut rates, after Canada, Sweden and Switzerland. In turn, the move has cemented the idea that the global monetary policy cycle is moving towards an easing mode, with investors expecting further cuts on the horizon. So it marks a big shift from much of the last couple of years, when central banks were rapidly hiking rates to try to bring down inflation.”

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