US stock futures were flat Friday morning as investors await a key jobs report for August that will give more information about the state of the economy and could determine the pace of future Federal Reserve interest rate increases.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures ticked up by 2 points. S&P 500 futures were essentially flat, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.1%.
The Dow and the S&P 500 ended the day higher in the previous session to kick off September, snapping four days of losses. The Nasdaq Composite slipped, posting its first five-day losing streak since February, weighed down by falling semiconductor stocks.
All three major averages are set to end the week lower after slumping in the last days of August, on course to notch their third negative week in a row. Stocks have been weighed down by hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials signaling that interest rate hikes aren’t going away anytime soon. Now, traders are watching to see if stocks will retest the June lows, especially since September is historically a poor month for the market.
“A half a day rally right before we have a jobs number tomorrow could just be simply that people didn’t want to be as short as they were over the last couple of days,” said Brian Kelly, founder of BKCM LLC, on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”
Shares of retailers Lululemon jumped nearly 10% in premarket trading after reporting quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
