U.S. stock futures slipped Monday, as traders continued to react to a jobs report that showed weaker-than-forecast employment growth, as investors prepare for the release of third-quarter earnings.
What’s happening
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.19% slipped 52 points, or 0.2%, to 34574
- Futures on the S&P 500 ES00, -0.29% fell 11 points, or 0.2%, to 4,372
- Futures on the Nasdaq 100 NQ00, -0.45% dropped 44 points, or 0.3%, to 14764
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.03% fell 9 points, or 0.03%, to 34746, the S&P 500 SPX, -0.19% declined 8 points, or 0.19%, to 4391, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.51% dropped 74 points, or 0.51%, to 14580.
What’s driving markets
With no economic releases due on Columbus Day, and the U.S. bond market closed, analysts were left dissecting the report that showed 194,000 nonfarm jobs added in September.
“Friday’s U.S. employment report was sufficiently mixed to revive the debate over the whether the Fed will really go ahead with the planned tapering next month. Despite the headline miss, the underlying numbers should just about meet Chair Powell’s requirement of ‘decent’ and ensure that the existing schedule remains intact,” said Ian Williams, strategist at U.K. broker Peel Hunt.
He added that the upcoming third-quarter earnings season will be even more crucial in supporting valuations as yields rise. Major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase JPM, +0.08%, Bank of America BAC, +0.50% and Citigroup C, +0.22% are due to report results this week.
Analysts have expressed concern that supply-chain issues that have spread throughout the global economy will compress profit margins, and that inflation will limit consumer demand.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.612% rose 14 basis points last week to 1.60%, the biggest weekly gain since Feb. 19.