Stock Market Today: Futures Point Lower Ahead of Jobs Report; Oil Surges Further, On Pace for Biggest Weekly Gain Since 2022

Stock futures pointed lower ahead of the February jobs report Friday, while oil futures were poised to post their biggest weekly gain in four years.

Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed down 0.4%, 0.3%, and 0.2%, respectively.

Yesterday, the blue-chip Dow, benchmark S&P 500, and tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.6%, 0.6%, and 0.3%, respectively, with the Dow shedding 785 points. Entering Friday, the Dow was down 2.1% for the week, on pace for its worst weekly performance since October, while the S&P 500 was 0.7% lower and the Nasdaq 0.4% higher.

Oil prices jumped yesterday after Iran claimed to have attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, surged a further 3.5% to almost $84 a barrel in recent trading, and have soared 25% this week—their biggest weekly gain since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

With the conflict in the Middle East in its seventh day and tanker traffic essentially halted through the important Strait of Hormuz, Danish shipping giant Maersk on Friday suspended a pair of services that link the region to Europe and Asia.

Meanwhile, investors will be paying attention to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ U.S. employment reading, which is expected to show U.S. employers added 50,000 jobs in February, a decline from the unexpectedly high 130,000 added in January, per a survey of economists by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 4.3%, the lowest level since August.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on all sorts of consumer loans, was at 4.17% before the reading, up from Thursday’s close of 4.14%. The yield ended last week at 3.95% and has risen every day this week.

Gold futures ticked higher to $5,095 an ounce, while silver futures rose 1% to near $83 an ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of currencies, edged lower to 99.27.

Bitcoin, which sank to as low as $63,000 in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran on Saturday, was trading around $70,600, down from overnight highs near $71,600.

In post-earnings moves, shares of Marvell Technology (MRVL) soared 12%, Gap (GAP) dropped 6.5%, and Costco Wholesale (COST) ticked lower before the bell.

Shares of the Magnificent Seven tech giants pointed slightly lower before the bell, with the biggest premarket decline registered by Nvidia (NVDA) at nearly 1%.