Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 27, 2022 in New York City. Stocks continued their upward gains Thursday with the Dow rising nearly 400 points following a new GDP report that beat expectations.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stock futures were little changed Thursday evening as investors looked ahead to Friday’s jobs report.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked lower by 26 points, or 0.07%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures lost about 0.1% each.
In regular trading, the Dow advanced 62.95 points, or 0.17%, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.8%. Both snapped three-day losing streaks. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.37%.
The Dow’s 0.4% week-to-date loss and the S&P 500 0.2% decline put both averages on track to break their 5-week win streak. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq climbed back into positive territory for the week. It’s currently higher by 0.2% and if it stays in the green, could post a sixth straight winning week.
Investors have been focused on jobs data, with several reports sprinkled throughout the week leading up to Friday’s finale: the big November nonfarm payrolls report. Initial jobless claims reported on Thursday came in at 220,000, while continuing claims came in at 1.861 million.
“The market is clinging to each data point to see if the economy can continue with this Goldilocks scenario where the labor market cools just enough to take pressure off wages but not tip the market in the recession,” said Stephanie Lang, chief investment officer at Homrich Berg.
“Today’s continuing claims help support recent data points of a softening but resilient labor market, and tomorrow will be telling to see if the November job reports can support a similar narrative,” she added.
Earlier in the week, investors also got private payrolls data that showed employers added fewer positions than economists forecasted, and job openings data that showed a decline to the lowest level since March 2021.
After the jobs report Friday, investors are also looking forward to the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment data for December, which is scheduled to be released at 10 a.m. ET Friday.
