Futures Suggests Lower Open For Wall Street

(RTTNews) - The Labor Department's monthly jobs report and manufacturing activity report might be the focus on Friday. Major corporates such as Apple and Amazon have scheduled their quarterly results after the close of trading today.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower.

As of 8.10 am ET, the Dow futures were down 396.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 60.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were tumbling 250.25 points.

The U.S. major averages finished Thursday just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq edged down 7.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,122.45, the S&P 500 fell 23.51 points or 0.4 percent to 6,339.39 and the Dow slid 330.30 points or 0.7 percent to 44,140.98.

The dollar was little changed in Asian trade after posting its best month of the year in July. Oil prices were steady following Trump's threats to impose 100 percent tariffs on countries importing oil from Russia.

Gold dipped below $3,300 per ounce ahead of the U.S. July jobs report due later in the day, with employment likely to moderate after a June increase. The jobless rate is seen ticking up to 4.2 percent.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for July will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for non-farm payrolls is 110,000, while it was up 147,000. The unemployment rate is expected to be up 4.2 percent, while it was 4.1 percent in the prior month. Private payrolls is expected to be 100,000, while it was up 74,000 in June.

The PMI Manufacturing Final for July will be released at 9.45 am ET. The consensus is 49.5, while it was up 52.9 in the prior month.

The ISM Manufacturing Index for July will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 49.5, while it was up 49.0 in the prior month.

The Construction Spending for June will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is up 0.1 percent, while it was down 0.3 percent in May.

The Consumer Sentiment for July will be announced at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 61.8, while it was up 61.8 in the prior month.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 724, and U.S. rig count was 542.

Asian stocks fell on Friday. China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.37 percent to 3,559.95. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.07 percent to 24,507.81.

Japanese markets fell notably. The Nikkei average gave up 0.66 percent to close at 40,799.60 while the broader Topix index settled 0.19 percent higher at 2,948.65.

Australian markets ended lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.92 percent to 8,662. The broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.91 percent lower at 8,917.10.