US pre-open: Futures mixed ahead of NFP reading
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 05 Sep 2025
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the bell on Friday as market participants looked ahead to August's non-farm payrolls report later in the day.
As of 1300 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.05%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.23% and 0.54% firmer, respectively.
The Dow closed 350.06 points higher on Thursday after staging a late rally on the back of renewed rate cut hopes.
Friday's primary focus will undoubtedly be last month's non-farm payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 1330 BST, with economists expecting to see payrolls increase from 73,000 in July to 75,000. Today's NFP figures follow weaker-than-expected ADP private payrolls data on Thursday, but investors continue to hold out hope that today's NFP reading will add weight to the argument that the Federal Reserve can go ahead with an expected rate cut at its September meeting.
Rostro's Joshua Mahony said: "Today is all about the US jobs data, with markets expecting more of the same after a week that has been dominated by downbeat assessments of the US employment situation. With job openings falling, ADP payrolls down to measly 54k, and job cuts on the rise, it will come as no surprise if we saw a similarly pessimistic reading from today's non-farm payrolls release. Crucially this would build on a period of weakness, with the revisions seen last month meaning that we have seen a mere 106k rise in payrolls over the course of May-July. Meanwhile, the recent pattern of negative revisions for previous months means the already unimpressive 73k reading from last month could easily be due a haircut.
"We are yet to see the data seen this week move market expectations for Fed easing, and thus traders will be watching closely to see if today's report finally moves the needle in terms of convincing the crowd that three 2025 rate cuts looks a likely scenario. The lack of any notable breakout in gold or silver highlights the relative stability around rate expectations thus far, although the dollar has been heading lower in anticipation of further payroll weakness."
No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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