(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures edged up on Friday, ahead of a key jobs report and comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, as investors keenly awaited clarity on the health of the world’s largest economy amid turbulence triggered by tariff uncertainty.
At 05:18 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 66 points, or 0.15%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 18.25 points, or 0.31% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 97 points, or 0.48%.
The Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls report is likely to show the economy added 160,000 jobs in February, higher than the 143,000 reported in the month before.
February unemployment rate is likely to remain unchanged from January at 4%, and could offer comfort to investors navigating signs of deteriorating consumer and business confidence. However, recent initiatives to cut government spending could threaten the job market resilience in the months ahead.
Among top movers, Broadcom rose 12.6% in premarket trading after the chipmaker assuaged investor worries about artificial intelligence infrastructure demand with a strong second-quarter forecast – a day after peer Marvell’s in-line forecast disappointed investors.
Marvell rose 1.5% after Thursday’s 20% slide, while Nvidia and Micron added 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively.
Equities witnessed their most volatile week this year, with Wall Street’s fear gauge trading near levels not seen since mid-December, as traders tried to assess President Donald Trump’s fluctuating trade policy. The index was muted on Friday.
In the previous session, the Nasdaq confirmed a 10% drop from its December all-time high, while the benchmark S&P 500 appeared to have reversed most of its gains since Trump’s election victory.
The indexes, along with the blue-chip Dow are on track for their biggest weekly drop since September.
Analysts say the concerns are that Trump’s tariffs would push the world’s largest economy into a period of high inflation and slowing growth.
Trump on Wednesday offered a four-week reprieve on tariffs he imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico that fall under a free-trade pact, but the U.S. is still in a trade war with China. Additionally, reciprocal trade barriers and other duties are expected to take effect in the following weeks.
Traders now see the Fed lowering interest rates by at least 75 basis points this year, according to data compiled by LSEG – more than what they were pricing-in earlier in the year.
Comments from Chair Powell at 12:30 p.m. ET could offer more clarity on the central bank’s policy. His colleagues, including New York Fed President John Williams, Governors Michelle Bowman and Adriana Kugler, are also slated to speak later in the day.
Gap beat fourth-quarter sales and profit estimates, sending shares of the apparel company up 17.8%.
Costco dipped 1.7% after the retailer missed Street estimates on quarterly earnings as merchandise costs increased.
Walgreens jumped 5.6% after the pharmacy chain agreed to be taken private by Sycamore Partners for $10 billion.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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