Wall Street Cautious Ahead Of Employment Report

(RTTNews) - The market is eagerly waiting for the U.S. Employment Situation Report on Friday. The unemployment rate is expected to be at 4.4 percent, unchanged from the previous period. A slew of Fed speeches and the Wholesale Trade Report are also of focus for the day. The U.S. Future Index's initial trading suggest broadly lower opening for Wall Street. Asian shares finished mostly higher, while European shares are trading on a positive note.

As of 7 am ET, the Dow futures were slipping 9 points, the S&P 500 futures were shedding 1.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were adding 2.75 points.

U.S. stocks closed higher reaching new highs on Thursday. The Dow rose 113.75 points or 0.5 percent to 22,775.39, the Nasdaq advanced 50.73 points or 0.8 percent to 6,585.36 and the S&P 500 climbed 14.33 points or 0.6 percent to 2,552.07.

On the economic front, the Labor Department's Employment Situation report for September will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The economists are looking for non-farm payrolls consensus of 100,000, while it grew by 156,000 in the prior month. Unemployment rate is expected to be at 4.4 percent, unchanged from August.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic will speak at Investing in America's Workforce Capstone Conference in Austin at 9.15 am ET.

The Commerce Department's Wholesale Trade report for August will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is for inventory growth of 1.0 percent, while it grew 0.6 percent in the previous month.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren to give William S. Vickrey Distinguished Address at 84th International Atlantic Economic Conference in Montreal at 11.45 am ET.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will speak at Investing in America's Workforce Capstone Conference in Austin at 12.45 pm.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard to speak on "Standard of Living Across U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas" at Bi-State Development 2017 Annual Luncheon Meeting in St. Louis at 1.50 pm ET.

Baker-Hughes Rig Count for the week will be issued at 1.00 pm ET. In the previous week, the North American Rig Count was 1153, while U.S. rig count was at 940.

The Fed's Consumer Credit for August will be published at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is for $16 billion, down from $18.5 billion in the previous month.

In the corporate segment, Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) reported 4.5 percent decline in September revenue passenger miles to 9.489 billion from 9.938 billion in the prior year. The capacity, expressed In available seat miles for the month slipped 1.6 percent to 11.610 billion from 11.797 billion. Load Factor for the period decreased 2.5 percentage points to 81.7 percent from 84.2 percent a year ago.

Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cyence Inc. for $275 million. The transaction is expected to close early in Guidewire's second fiscal quarter.

MGM Holdings Inc. said that it has extended the contract of Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Barber through December 2022.

Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Friday. Japanese shares hit two-year high. The Nikkei average finished 62.15 points or 0.30 percent higher at 20,690.71 while the broader Topix index closed 0.28 percent higher at 1,687.16. Hang Seng of Hong Kong finished up 78.86 points or 0.28 percent at 28,458.04. Chinese and South Korean markets were closed for trading.

Australian shares rallied. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 58.90 points or 1.04 percent to 5,710.70 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 57.10 points or 1.00 percent at 5,777.40.

European shares are trading mostly higher. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is down 5.32 points or 0.10 percent. The German DAX is gaining 10.16 points or 0.0 0.87 percent. The U.K. FTSE 100 Index is adding 16.91 points or 0.23 percent. The Swiss Market Index is declining 6.68 points or 0.07 percent.

The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.25 percent.