Gregg Smith, Founder of Evolution VC Partners, discusses his market outlook for 2022 and inflation.
US stock futures were trading higher through the last trading day of the week and ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report.
Major futures indexes suggest a 0.3% gain when Wall Street trading begins.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK US STOCKS
The most anticipated economic report of the month is due out on Friday morning.
The US economy is expected to have added 490,000 new nonfarm payrolls in March. That follows a much larger than expected gain of 678k in February. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.7%, down from 3.8% in the previous month and the lowest level since February 2020.
STRONG LABOR GAINS EXPECTED IN MARCH EMPLOYMENT REPORT
After the March jobs report, the big number to watch on Friday is the ISM March PMI. Expected a slight rise to 59.0, highest level since November. A number above 50 signals expansion.
Also note that construction spending is set to rise 1.0% in February, just below the 1.3% gain in the previous month.
Storage tanks are seen at Marathon Petroleum’s Los Angeles refinery, which processes domestic and imported crude oil. Image taken with a drone. (REUTERS/Bing Guan / Reuters Photos)
Oil prices rose early Friday morning ahead of a meeting of consuming nations to discuss a new release of emergency oil reserves alongside the release announced by the United States.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 54 cents to $100.75 a barrel. The contract fell 7% on Thursday.
Brent futures were up $1.30 at $106.04 a barrel after falling 5.6% on Thursday.
RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES
Asian stocks were mostly lower on Friday as a resurgence in Russian attacks dashed hopes of a quick end to the war in Ukraine.
In Japan, the quarterly business sentiment indicator fell for the first time in seven quarters.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.6%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.9%.
Shares in electronics and energy giant Toshiba Corp. rose 6.5% after it was announced that Bain Capital could make a bid to take over and privatize the company. Toshiba said it was not involved in such talks.
Bitcoin traded around $44,000.
Wall Street has completed its worst quarter since the pandemic hit two years ago.
| ticker | security | Last | To change | To change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Me: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 34678.35 | -550.46 | -1.56% |
| SP500 | S&P500 | 4530.41 | -72.04 | -1.57% |
| I: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 14220.518711 | -221.76 | -1.54% |
The S&P 500 lost 1.6% to 4,530.41. The year-to-date loss is 4.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was also down 1.6% to 34,678.35. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5% to 14,220.52.
Both indices also posted gains in March, largely due to a market rally in the two weeks leading up to this week.
An inflation gauge closely monitored by the US Federal Reserve rose 6.4% year-on-year in February, marking the largest year-on-year increase since January 1982.
GameStop said it will seek shareholder approval at its annual meeting for an increase in the number of shares the video game retailer holds to accommodate a stock split. Shares are up about 15% in after-hours trading.
Technology and communications stocks were among the largest weights in the market. Chipmaker Intel fell 3.6%, while Facebook parent Meta Platforms slipped 2.4%.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS
Banks also fell along with bond yields, pushing down interest rates on loans and making lending less profitable for banks. The yield on the 10-year government bond slipped to 2.34% from 2.36% late Wednesday. In Asia, the 10-year government bond yield rallied to 2.39% early Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.