S&P 500 futures rose marginally on Friday morning as a trio of megacap tech titans reported results and investors digested a stronger-than-expected jobs report. Futures tied to the broad market index climbed about 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures added 0.5%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures ticked down 72 points, or 0.1%. Futures cut gains, however, as Treasury yields jumped on the back of a much stronger-than-expected jobs report. The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, well above the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000. The report also included inflationary data in the form of greater-than-expected wage growth. Wages expanded by 4.5% year over year, more than a 4.1% forecast. This comes after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled this week that a March rate cut was unlikely. ″[T]he incremental fall in the unemployment rate and the jump in average hourly earnings fills out a consistent picture of a still-robust labor market,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander. “Will this finally cool the market sentiment toward early rate cuts? I still think the Fed is on hold until November.” Shares of Meta popped 17% after the social-media giant defied analysts’ expectations. The Facebook-parent also announced it will pay a quarterly dividend for the first time, and it authorized a $50 billion share buyback program. Amazon shares jumped 6% on fourth-quarter beats. However, Apple slid 3% after the company posted a decline in sales in China during the fiscal first quarter. The moves follow a rebound session on Wall Street. The major averages gained around 1% each, a day after selling off on the back of the Federal Reserve signaling that a March rate cut was unlikely. Futures tied to the broad market index climbed about 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures added 0.5%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures ticked down 72 points, or 0.1%. Futures cut gains, however, as Treasury yields jumped on the back of a much stronger-than-expected jobs report. The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, well above the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000. The report also included inflationary data in the form of greater-than-expected wage growth. Wages expanded by 4.5% year over year, more than a 4.1% forecast. This comes after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled this week that a March rate cut was unlikely. ″[T]he incremental fall in the unemployment rate and the jump in average hourly earnings fills out a consistent picture of a still-robust labor market,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander. “Will this finally cool the market sentiment toward early rate cuts? I still think the Fed is on hold until November.” Shares of Meta popped 17% after the social-media giant defied analysts’ expectations. The Facebook-parent also announced it will pay a quarterly dividend for the first time, and it authorized a $50 billion share buyback program. Amazon shares jumped 6% on fourth-quarter beats. However, Apple slid 3% after the company posted a decline in sales in China during the fiscal first quarter. The moves follow a rebound session on Wall Street. The major averages gained around 1% each, a day after selling off on the back of the Federal Reserve signaling that a March rate cut was unlikely. U.S. Treasury yields jumped Friday as investors assessed a surprisingly strong jobs report suggesting continued strength in the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was more than 14 basis points higher at 4.008%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last up by 20 basis points at 4.397%. South Korea’s Kospi led gains in Asia-Pacific markets on Friday after Wall Street rebounded from the sell-off earlier this week, but China’s CSI 300 hit a new five-year low. South Korea’s consumer price index climbed 2.8% year on year, slightly less than the 2.9% expected in a Reuters poll of economists. The Kospi rose 2.87% to close at 2,615.31 and posted a weekly gain of 5.47%, while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 2.01% to 814.77. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.47% to 7,699.4, after its fourth-quarter producer price index rose at a faster pace of 4.1% year on year, compared with 3.8% in the preceding quarter. The index gained 1.91% compared to last week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also rebounded 0.41%, ending at 36,158.02 and gaining 0.96% on the week, while the broad based Topix climbed 0.22% to end at 2,539.68. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.24%, while the mainland CSI 300 tumbled 1.18% to 3,179.63, hitting its lowest level since January 2019. Oil prices rose in early trade on Friday following a decision by OPEC+ to keep its oil output policy unchanged, clawing back some losses from the previous trading session triggered by unsubstantiated ceasefire reports between Israel and Hamas. Brent crude futures rose 50 cents, or 0.6%, to $79.20 a barrel at 0155 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 40 cents, or 0.5%, to $74.22 a barrel. Gold prices slipped on Friday as U.S. non-farm payrolls data gained more than expected, raising questions as to when the Federal Reserve will be able to lower interest rates. Spot gold was declined 1.2% to $2,030.70 per ounce. U.S. gold futures shed 1.1% to $2,048.10.
Roodeweg 222, Willemstad, Curaçao