By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Friday, rebounding after the previous session’s Federal Reserve-inspired losses ahead of the release of the crucial October jobs report.
At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 205 points, or 0.6%, S&P 500 Futures traded 30 points, or 0.8%, higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 95 points, or 0.9%.
The main equity indices closed lower Thursday after the U.S. central bank raised interest rates by a hefty 75 basis points again and made it clear there were more increases needed to tame inflation, dashing hopes that it was nearing an end to its aggressive rate hikes.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell just short of 150 points, or 0.5%, while the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slumped 1.7%.
All three indices are on course to post a losing week. Before Friday’s open, the Dow was down 2.6%, the S&P down 4.6%, and the Nasdaq 6.8% lower, set for its worst weekly performance since January.
Attention now turns to the release of the October employment report, at 08:30 ET (12:30 GMT), which should offer more clues over how the economy is progressing, and how much work the Fed has to do to bring down inflation.
Analysts are expecting that the economy added 200,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, which would be down from 263,000 the prior month, while average hourly earnings, an important inflation gauge, is seen rising 0.3% on the month, unchanged from the prior month.
The quarterly corporate earnings season is set to continue, but with the bulk of tech earnings now over, next week sees the turn of the major retailers to provide more clarity on their outlooks this season.
Ahead of that, the candy maker Hershey (NYSE:HSY), electric utility giant Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), and entertainment company AMC Networks (NASDAQ:AMCX) are scheduled to report Friday.
Additionally, Block (NYSE:SQ) stock soared 14% premarket after the payments platform posted a rise in third-quarter revenue late Thursday, helped by growth of its online payments service Cash App.
On the flip side, Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) stock fell 7% premarket after the online used car seller disappointed with its third-quarter results, citing weakening demand for used cars after a surge of interest during the pandemic.
Oil prices rose Friday, helped by an easing dollar and fresh rumors that China plans to scale back COVID-related restrictions.
Baker Hughes’ numbers on operational U.S. oil rigs as well as CFTC positioning data will be studied later in the session, while traders also await news on the potential passing of a price cap on Russian exports by Western powers. This is a plan aimed at squeezing funding to Moscow without cutting supply to consumers.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 3.3% higher at $91.08 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 2.9% to $97.38.
Both benchmarks are on course to post a positive week, with supply seen as tight, illustrated by falling U.S. crude stockpiles, even as recession fears raise demand concerns.
Additionally, gold futures rose 1.4% to $1,653.45/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.4% higher at 0.9792.