Stock futures changed little before key jobs report

US stock index futures were little changed at the start of Friday morning’s session, as Wall Street awaits Friday’s September key jobs report.

Futures contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 43 points. S&P 500 futures were up 0.07%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were flat.

Shares rose in regular trading on Thursday as Washington struck a deal to raise the debt ceiling until December. The Dow Jones gained around 340 points, or 0.98%, for its third consecutive positive session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also advanced for a third day, gaining 0.83% and 1.05% respectively. The three big averages are about to end the week in the green.

All eyes are on Friday’s jobs report, which will be critical as the Federal Reserve prepares to slow its $ 120 billion-per-month bond buying program. Economists expect the economy to create 500,000 jobs in September, according to Dow Jones estimates. In August, only 235,000 jobs were created, well below the consensus estimate of 720,000.

The Labor Department said Thursday that jobless claims for the previous week stood at 326,000. This was less than the 345,000 economists were claiming. Ongoing claims, meanwhile, fell from 97,000 to 2.71 million.

“The last appetizer of Friday’s non-farm payrolls report was a positive weekly jobless claims report,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “As the United States continues to contain the spread of the delta variant, the recovery in the labor market is expected to continue to improve.”

Uncertainty around the debt ceiling had been a hindrance for the market, but other risks remain, including accelerating inflation and rising rates. The 10-year Treasury yield was around 1.57% on Thursday, and UBS expects it to climb to 1.8% by the end of the year.

“A steadily improving US labor market and solid economic growth in the US should give the Federal Reserve the green light to begin curbing its quantitative easing (QE) program,” the company wrote in a note to clients.

Wall Street is also gearing up for the third quarter earnings season, which begins next week. JPMorgan, BlackRock and Delta report on Wednesday, with the other major banks reporting later in the week.