|
Equity markets flitted between gains and losses all week as
investors digested updates on the newly detected variant, which
is spreading globally and causing many countries to reimpose
travel restrictions.
The main three indexes are on course for weekly losses, with
Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE Market Volatility index,
spiking above 30 for the first in ten months earlier this week.
The Labor Department's closely watched nonfarm payrolls report,
due at 8:30 am ET, is expected to show U.S. employers stepped up
hiring in November, with the unemployment rate seen falling to a
20-month low of 4.5% and wages increasing further.
"Assuming the Omicron news remains less end of the world, a
print above 550,000 jobs should see the faster Fed-taper trade
reassert itself," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at
Oanda.
"That may nip the equity rally in the bud, while the U.S. dollar
and U.S. yields could resume rising."
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this week that
the U.S. central bank will consider at the upcoming meeting a
faster wind-down to its bond-buying program, a move widely seen
as opening the door to earlier interest rates hikes.
November reading on ISM non-manufacturing PMI report is also
scheduled after markets open.
At 6:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 48 points, or 0.14%, S&P
500 e-minis were down 7.75 points, or 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were down 25.5 points, or 0.16%.
Meanwhile, the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate passed a bill
to fund the government through mid-February, averting the risk
of a shutdown.
Delta Air Lines and Norwegian Cruise Line led losses among
shares of major airlines and cruiseliners, down 1.0% and 0.7%,
respectively, in premarket trading after logging sharp gains on
Thursday.
Ulta Beauty jumped 6.3% in low volumes after the beauty retailer
raised annual sales and profit forecasts.
Nucor Corp rose 1.6% after the steel products manufacturer
increased its quarterly dividend by 23% and announced a $4
billion buyback program.
(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
