Dow Jones Industrials Average ended significantly higher on Thursday, supported by a slump in Treasury yields as the experts eye monthly jobs report which is due to be released on Friday. This comes after the bets that US Fed is done increasing the key interest rates. Main indices on Wall Street ended strongly higher on Wednesday, as blue-chip Dow gained ~220 points, or 0.7%, the S&P rising ~1.1% and tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing ~1.6%. This positive tone was after the conclusion of latest policy-setting meeting by the central bank, that resulted in US Fed keeping interest rates steady, which was widely expected.
With all the positivity in the financial environment, traders and investors still try to figure out as to how will NASDAQ 100 futures perform on Friday. NASDAQ 100 futures signals weaker opening for Friday as Apple, Inc. released its latest quarterly results. Futures associated to tech-heavy index fell ~0.3%, with S&P 500 futures dropping ~0.1%. Futures tied to Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a decline of only ~19 points, or ~0.06%.
To understand how will NASDAQ 100 futures perform on Friday, it is important to know the expected performance of technology stocks. In after-hours action, shares of Apple, Inc. saw a fall of ~3% after iPhone maker gave weak and subdued revenue outlook for quarter ended December. Despite the company beating on top and bottom lines in 4Q, overall sales saw a fall for the fourth quarter in a row. Elsewhere, shares of Square saw a whopping increase of ~16% on an earnings beat and an improvement on its full-year guidance, with Paramount Global jumping ~5% on strong quarterly report.
With traders still analysing how will NASDAQ 100 futures perform on Friday, investors and experts focus on jobs report. Whether or not this positive momentum will continue will depend entirely on outcome of October’s jobs report, which is expected to be released on Friday morning. Economists and experts at Wall Street expect an increase of ~170,000 payrolls in comparison to September’s blowout of 336,000 jobs. These experts expect that unemployment rate will remain steady at ~3.8%.
If we talk about weekly performance, as of Thursday’s close, stocks and indexes are on track for sizable weekly gains as investors expect that US Fed’s rate-hiking campaign might be over. While Dow Jones Industrials Average is up ~4.4% (which exhibits its best weekly performance since October 2022), S&P 500 continues to track for ~4.9% advance for the week (its best weekly performance since November 2022).
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