U.S. stock futures rose on Friday following Thursday’s selloff that pushed the Nasdaq 100 index into the correction zone. Futures of all four benchmark indices rose in premarket trading.
President Donald Trump‘s administration postponed implementation of certain USMCA goods that are imported from Mexico and Canada on Thursday after a 25% levy was implemented on Tuesday.
Investors await the U.S. jobs report, unemployment rate and hourly wages data for February, slated to be released today.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.26%, while the two-year yield was at 3.95%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, there is a 91% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the March meeting.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.48% |
| S&P 500 | 0.30% |
| Dow Jones | 0.15% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.19% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Friday. SPY gained 0.33% to $574.58, and QQQ was up 0.48% to $490.55, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From The Last Session
Real estate, information technology, and consumer discretionary sectors experienced the most significant losses on Thursday, contributing to the overall market decline. Conversely, energy stocks bucked the trend, closing higher amidst the widespread downturn.
On the economic front, the U.S. reported a record trade deficit of $131.4 billion in January, compared to a revised $98.1 billion gap in the previous month. Unit labor costs in the nonfarm business sector rose 2.2% in the fourth quarter, compared to preliminary expectations of 3%.
Initial jobless claims declined by 21,000 from the previous week to 221,000 during the last week of February, compared to market estimates of 235,000.
Kroger Co. KR reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | -2.61% | 18,069.26 |
| S&P 500 | -1.78% | 5,738.52 |
| Dow Jones | -0.99% | 42,579.08 |
| Russell 2000 | -1.63% | 2,066.55 |
Insights From Analysts
While markets have reacted negatively to recent tariff announcements, this suspension could set the stage for a potential market recovery in the medium term, explained Subho Moulik, the founder and CEO of the fintech platform Appreciate.
“Despite legitimate concerns about inflation and trade uncertainty, U.S. economic fundamentals remain solid with unemployment edging down to 4% and GDP growth still in the positive territory. This economic resilience provides a foundation for market stabilization,” Moulik added.
According to him, market volatility may persist in the short term, but history demonstrates that strategic navigation of policy-induced corrections can lead to outperformance for investors who maintain discipline and a long-term perspective.
The Nasdaq 100 entered correction territory on Thursday, falling 9.76% from its record high to 20,052.64, and breaking below its 200-day moving average for the first time in nearly two years.
Analyst Jason Goepfert of White Oak Consultancy LLC warned in an X post that a further 3.5% decline within the next two weeks would signal a bear market.
Historically, when the index has broken its 200-day average after a prolonged uptrend and subsequently dropped at least 3.5% within two weeks, a bear market has followed. Conversely, if the index avoids a 3.5% drawdown in the next two weeks, historical data suggests positive one-year returns.
According to Charlie Bilello, the chief market strategist at Creative Planning, the 497 trading sessions for which the Nasdaq 100 index was above its 200-day moving average, was the second longest streak in its history, returning 73% to investors.
Ryan Detrick of Carson Research highlighted historical data and said that the market has peaks in mid-February and hits lows in the second week of March over the last 20 years.
See Also: How to Trade Futures
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will keep on Friday:
- February’s U.S. jobs report, unemployment rate and hourly wages data will be out by 8:30 a.m., ET.
- Fed Governor Michelle Bowman will speak at 10:15 a.m., New York Fed President John Williams will speak again at 10:45 a.m., Fed Governor Adriana Kugler will speak at 12:20 p.m., and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at 12:30 p.m., ET.
- January’s consumer credit data will be announced at 3:00 p.m., ET.
Stocks In Focus:
- Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. AQN was up 1.21% in the premarket on Friday ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 8 cents per share on revenue of $607.00 million.
- Genesco Inc. GCO slipped 0.15% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of $3.31 per share on revenue of $784.85 million before the opening bell.
- Advantage Solutions Inc. ADV gained 5.51% ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 12 cents per share on revenue of $863.41 million.
- Broadcom Inc. AVGO jumped 12.84% after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter financial results. The company said it expects second-quarter revenue of approximately $14.9 billion, versus estimates of $14.76 billion.
- JD.Com Inc. JD fell 1.98% despite better-than-expected earnings as management did not clarify on the scale and profitability of its new food delivery business JD Takeaway.
- Costco Wholesale Corp. COST dropped 1.42% after it reported mixed second quarter earnings but the management said that they were “well equipped” to mitigate tariffs.
- Plus Therapeutics Inc. PSTV surged 58.33% as it received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for its drug Rhenium Obisbemeda which is used to treat leptomeningeal metastases in lung cancer patients.
- authID Inc. AUID climbed 5.97% after it released a whitepaper, “Deepfake Countermeasures,” detailing their deepfake detection system, which boasts billion-to-one accuracy and 35-millisecond matching.
- Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. CCRN plunged 42.97% as it missed fourth quarter estimates and Federal Trade Commission’s review of its $615 million sale to Aya Healthcare discovered some “troubling documents”.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. HPE plummeted 20.49% on earnings miss and weak revenue outlook amid job cut announcement.
Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 1.25% to hover around $67.19 per barrel.
The gold spot index was up by 0.24% to $2,918.13 per ounce. Its last record high was at $2,956.37 per ounce. The Dollar Index was down 0.44% at the 103.609 level.
Asian markets closed lower on Friday as the Australia's ASX 200, India's S&P BSE Sensex, China's CSI 300, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined. European markets were also lower in trade.
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