US stock futures wavered on Friday as investors digested last monthly jobs report of the year, a crucial test of the prospects for interest-rate cuts in December and beyond.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) were down 0.1%, while those on the the S&P 500 (ES=F) lost about the same after the gauges drifted away from all-time highs at Thursday’s close. Meanwhile, contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were broadly flat.
The US economy added 227,000 jobs in November, slightly more than expected, as the labor market rebounded from October data that was negatively impacted by severe weather and labor strikes. The unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up to 4.2%. Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer has all the details here.
The report largely matched hopes for a “Goldilocks” reading — strong enough to dampen concerns about the economy, but soft enough to keep the Fed’s options open on lowering rates this month and into next year.
On Friday, markets were pricing in around 70% odds the Fed lowers rates by a quarter percentage point on Dec. 18, per the CME FedWatch Tool, broadly the same as before the report.
Meanwhile, the rally in bitcoin (BTC-USD) continued to flag, with the cryptocurrency slipping to trade around $98,000. Options show some investors are hedging against a deeper pullback after the leading token’s record-breaking surge to over $100,000 for the first time. The rally has been spurred by hopes of support for digital currencies from President-elect Donald Trump, who on Thursday named former PayPal (PYPL) COO David Sacks as his “White House AI & Crypto Czar.”
On the corporate front, shares of Lululemon (LULU) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA) jumped in premarket trading after the retailers both boosted profit forecasts.
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