US Market Poised To End Week On High Note: Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Rally As Investors' Attention Moves Away From Fed Rate Hike To Friday's Jobs Report

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday, as rate worries abate and the market prepares to focus on the next big catalyst.

On Thursday, the major averages opened lower and moved mostly below the unchanged line before closing firmly in the red, as lingering worries concerning interest rates, mixed economic data and earnings disappointments dragged stocks lower.

Here’s a peek into index futures trading:

In premarket trading on Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF TrustSPY rose 0.61% to $373.28 and the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ gained 0.70% to $262.32, according to Benzinga Pro data.

On the economic front, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its non-farm payrolls report for October at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The economy may have added 200,000 jobs in the month, slower than the 288,000 positive change in the previous month. The unemployment rate is expected to have ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.6%. The year-over-year change in the average hourly earnings — an inflation gauge — is expected at 4.7%, slower than the 5% increase in September.

Federal Open Market Committee member Eric Rosengren is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. EDT.

See also: Alibaba, Nio Stocks Surge: Hang Seng Rises Over 3% As Tech, EV Rally Outweighs COVID-19 Worries

Stocks In Focus: 

• Payment processor Block, Inc. SQ rallied over 14% in premarket trading on its third-quarter earnings beat.
• Other stocks moving to the upside include Insulet Corp. PODD, DoorDash, Inc. DASH and Microchip Technology, Inc. MCHP.
• Business collaboration software marker Atlassian Corp. TEAM and communications software provider Twilio Inc. TWLO plunged about 25% each in reaction to their quarterly results.
• Cardinal Health, Inc. CAH, DraftKings, Inc. DKNG, Dominion Energy, Inc. D, Duke Energy Corp. DUK and Cinemark Holdings, Inc. CNK are among the key companies reporting earnings ahead of the market open.

Commodities, Other Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures rallied over 3%, topping $90-a-barrel market, after Thursday’s pullback.

The major markets in the Asia-Pacific region rallied across the board, with the Hong Kong market leading from the front. The Japanese market, which remained closed on Thursday, retreated in late reaction to the Fed’s rate hike.

European stocks have rallied out of the gates and sustained their gains into late morning trading.

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