The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release a preliminary estimate of the nonfarm payrolls benchmark at 10am, with economists predicting that the level of US employment for the 12 months through March could be slashed by as many as a million jobs.
Recent labour market indicators have already cast shadows of concern across the minds of investors and Federal Reserve officials alike, with nonfarm payroll data for July and August confirming weakening labour market conditions.
The latest report has led traders to fully price in a 25-basis-point reduction in interest rates next week, while bets also surfaced for a larger 50-bps trim, which stand at 11.8%, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
At 7.21am, Dow E-minis were up 40 points, or 0.09%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 14.5 points, or 0.06% and S&P 500 E-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.03%.
Meanwhile, Nebius soared 50.4% in premarket trading after the AI infrastructure firm signed a US$17.4-billion deal with Microsoft Rival CoreWeave also rose 5.4%.
Inflation reports due this week will also be on investors’ radar to gauge the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies on the US economy, and whether a case could be made for a bigger rate cut.
“The interest rate futures market could do a 180-degree shift if inflation runs hotter than expected,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
“In recent weeks, the markets have determined that the weakening employment outlook is more important than inflation, but a nasty upside surprise could weigh heavily on stocks,” Brooks said.
All the three main indexes finished yesterday’s session on a higher note, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq closing at a record, lifted by a rally in chip major Broadcom.
Wall Street has had a broadly positive start to September, a month deemed historically bad for US equities, with the benchmark index losing 1.5% on average since 2000, data compiled by LSEG showed.
In other stocks, US-listed shares of Teck Resources jumped 15.9% before the bell after the miner agreed to merge with London-listed Anglo American today.
Tourmaline Bio jumped more than 57.7% after Swiss pharma giant Novartis said it would acquire the biopharmaceutical company for US$1.4 billion.
UnitedHealth gained 4.4% after the health insurer said it expects enrollment in top-rated Medicare insurance plans to be in line with its expectations.
Fox Corp’s shares fell 5.3% and News Corp’s dipped 2.7% after Rupert Murdoch and his children reached an agreement that will give the eldest son Lachlan Murdoch control over the media empire.