US pre-open: Stocks set for higher start ahead of US jobs data
Equity futures are pointing to moderate gains for stocks in the States on Friday ahead of the release of the all-important monthly US jobs report.
As of 1306 BST, futures for on the Dow Jones Industrials were pointing to gains of 67.0 points at the start of the day to 25,372.0, alongside an advance of 6.75 points to 2,835 for the S&P 500 and a 27.75 point advance for the Nasdaq-100 to 7,413.50.
Pushing futures higher, before the opening bell Chinese authorities announced that they would adjust their forward foreign exchange risk reserve requirement ratio from 0% to 20%, in effect raising the cost of shorting the country's currency, the yuan.
Commenting on the market backdrop, Craig Erlam at Oanda said: "President Trump's unpredictability on trade is keeping capital markets on the back foot and a theme that is not expected to change anytime soon.
"[...] Worries over protectionism has this week punished global stocks despite a stronger earnings season, supported lower sovereign yields and pushed G10 currency pairs to new weekly lows outright. The Chinese yuan is on track to complete an eighth week decline – its longest losing streak in 25-years."
US jobs data scheduled for release at 1330 BST were expected to reveal a 193,000 person increase in hiring for the month of July and a dip in the unemployment rate from 4.0% in June to 3.9%.
Also set for release on Friday were international trade data for June, also at 1330 BST, followed by the ISM services sector PMI at 1500 BST.
Kraft Heinz saw profits drop during its second quarter as a result of cost headwinds, but nevertheless beat analysts' forecasts. For the three months to June, the food manufacturer posted earnings per share of $0.62, which was down from $0.94 one year ago. Yet in adjusted terms, EPS printed at $1.0, easily surpassing the 92 cents expected by the consensus.
Biogen shares were wanted after the company unveiled a fresh $3.5bn share repurchase authorisation from its board.
Cisco was also in the headlines after it announced the purchase of authentication services provider Duo Security for $2.35bn.
Chesapeake Energy on the other hand delivered a mixed set of results, with EPS for the latest quarter edging past market forecasts but revenues of $2.255bn shy of the $2.269bn that analysts had pendiled-in.