Wall Street Poised To Open Lower

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open in negative territory on Friday. Asian shares finished mostly up and the European shares are trading broadly down.

Earnings as well as the monthly Employment Situation report are likely to be in the spotlight on Friday. Service Sector activities report also might get special attention.

Major corporates such as Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple will be releasing their quarterly results after the close of today’s trading.

As of 7.00 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 85.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were down 28.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 152.00 points.

The U.S. major averages finished broadly higher on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 384.50 points or 3.3 percent to a nearly five-month closing high of 12,200.82, while the S&P 500 jumped 60.55 points or 1.5 percent to 4,179.76.

Dow spent most of the day in negative territory, with the blue-chip index edging down 39.02 points or 0.1 percent to 34,053.94.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for January will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus for non-farm payrolls is an increase of 185,000, while it was up 223,000 in the prior month. The unemployment rate is expected to gain 3.6 percent while it grew 3.5 percent in December.

Private Payrolls is expected to increase 170,000, while it was up 220,000 in the previous month. The consensus for monthly manufacturing payrolls is 5000, while it grew 8000 in December. Average Hourly Earnings are expected to increase by 4.4 percent, while it was up 4.6 percent in the prior month.

US Services Purchasing Managers’ Index or PMI Composite Final will be issued at 9.45 am ET.

ISM Services Index for January will be published at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is 50.4, while it grew 49.6 in the prior month.

The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be revealed at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 1,018. The U.S. Rig Count was 771.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday. Chinese shares finished lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.68 percent to 3,263.41 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.36 percent to 21,660.47.

Japanese shares eked out. The Nikkei average rose 0.39 percent to 27,509.46. The broader Topix index ended 0.26 percent higher at 1,970.26.

Australian markets finished notably higher. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.62 percent to 7,558.10 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.56 percent higher at 7,771.80.

European shares are trading mostly higher. CAC 40 of France is down 12.48 points or 0.17 percent. DAX of Germany is declining 88.84 points or 0.57 percent. FTSE 100 of England is progressing 18.11 points or 0.24 percent. Swiss Market Index is up 93.51 points or 0.83 percent.

Euro Stoxx 50 which provides a Blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone, is down 0.47 percent.

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