Trading on Wall Street is muted early Friday ahead of the the U.S. jobs report report for November.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both fell less than 0.1% before the bell.
A handful of companies reported strong earnings before the bell, including athletic wear and yoga gear company Lululemon, which jumped more than 9% after it reported third-quarter profit that surpassed Wall Street expectations.
Ulta Beauty, the mall-based makeup and skin care retailer, climbed more than 11% after it posted strong third-quarter earnings, including profits that easily beat analysts’ projections.
Docusign jumped 14% overnight after the electronic signature technology company’s reported an 8% jump in third-quarter sales that boosted profits above expectations.
Also before the bell, the Labor Department releases its latest jobs report, which is expected to show job gains of around 200,000 for the month of November. That would represent a healthy rebound from the paltry 12,000 jobs added a month earlier when hurricanes and strikes pushed workers off payrolls.
The U.S. labor market and broader economy have held up better than most economists expected in an era of elevated interest rates. Layoffs are low and job openings remain plentiful.
Solid consumer spending has helped the U.S. economy avoid a recession that had seemed inevitable after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to crush inflation.
Expectations are high that the Fed will cut its main interest rate again when it meets before Christmas. The Fed began easing its main interest rate from a two-decade high in September, hoping to offer more support for the job market.
In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 surged 1.5% after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he plans to stay in office until the end of his term and to name a new prime minister within days.
This comes after far-right and left-wing lawmakers approved a no-confidence motion due to budget disputes, forcing Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his Cabinet to resign.
Germany’s DAX picked up 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 was little changed.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.8% to 39,091.17. The U.S. dollar rose to 150.41 Japanese yen from 150.10 yen.
Chinese stocks rallied. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.6% to 19,865.85 and the Shanghai Composite index surged 1.1% to 3,404.08. Markets are watching for the outcome of an annual economic policy meeting scheduled for next week.
Analysts said policymakers might lean toward caution as they brace for President-elect Donald Trump’s moves on tariffs and trade.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.6% to 2,428.16. On Friday, South Korea’s ruling party chief showed support for suspending the constitutional powers of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law and then revoked that earlier this week. Yoon is facing calls to resign and be investigated and may be impeached.
Thousands of protesters have marched in the streets and thousands of autoworkers and other members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union, one of the country’s biggest umbrella labor groups, began partial strikes Thursday to protest against Yoon. The union said its members will begin indefinite strikes starting on Wednesday if Yoon does not leave office by then.
Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.6% to 8,420.90.
Bitcoin briefly burst above $103,000 on Thursday before pulling back after exceeding $100,000 for the first time following President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of financier Paul Atkins, who’s seen as a crypto advocate, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Bitcoin slipped below the $100,000 mark, trading at $98,027.22 early Friday, according to CoinDesk.
In other dealings Friday, benchmark U.S. crude lost 50 cents to $67.80 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave back 52 cents to $71.57 a barrel.
The euro inched down to $1.0584 from $1.0589.
