Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Inch Higher Ahead of Jobs Report as Market Looks to Rebound From Sell-Off; Broadcom Soars on Earnings
Stock futures are slightly higher Friday morning ahead of the release of closely watched employment data, as the market looks to cap off a volatile week on a high note.
Futures tied the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were each up 0.1% about two hours before the opening bell, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.2%. Stocks fell sharply Thursday—and are on pace for their worst week of 2025—amid ongoing uncertainty about President Trump’s tariff policies and broader concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.
Investors will be paying close attention this morning to the February jobs report, which is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, as they look for indications that the economy remains on sound footing and for information that could affect the Federal Reserve’s decision-making on interest rates. Economists expect that the report from the Labor Department will show that U.S. employers added 170,00 jobs last month, up from 143,000 in January, and that the unemployment rate held steady at 4%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which tends to fall when concerns about the economy rise, was at 4.26% this morning, down from 4.28% at yesterday’s close. The yield, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, fell as low as 4.11% earlier this week, its lowest level since October.
Among stocks on the move in premarket trading, chipmaking giant Broadcom (AVGO) was the big gainer, rising 10% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results fueled by booming AI-related demand. The stock fell more than 6% yesterday amid a broader sell-off in semiconductor stocks as the AI trade continued to falter. AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) was up 1% this morning after falling more than 5% yesterday.
Other mega-cap technology stocks were mostly lower. Tesla (TSLA) was down more than 1%, while Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG) and Meta Platforms (META) fell slightly and Amazon (AMZN) was flat.
Shares of Costco (COST) were down 1.5% after the membership-based retailer’s earnings came in below Wall Street expectations, while Gap (GAP) shares soared 17% after a better-than-expected quarterly report.
Bitcoin was trading at $89,100 recently, up from an overnight low of $84,700. The digital currency fell last night after an executive order from President Trump to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve fell short of investor expectations.
Gold futures were holding steady at around $2,930 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 1.4% to $67.26. The price of oil touched its lowest level since late 2021 earlier this week amid concerns about slowing economic growth.