5 things to know before the stock market opens Friday, Feb. 4

On Feb 4, 2022

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Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

1. Dow futures decline due to Friday’s jobs report uncertainty

Dow futures fell 100 points Friday as investors await the government’s before-the-bell release of its monthly employment report. The 10-year Treasury yield ticked lower but was still above 1.8% ahead of the jobs data, which many economists fear could show big losses in nonfarm payrolls for the first time since late 2020.

Nasdaq futures rose Friday, boosted by Amazon‘s more than 12% premarket surge on strong cloud-led earnings after the bell Thursday. Snap rocketed more than 45% higher in the premarket, the morning after delivering better-than-expected quarterly results and rosy forward guidance.
The Nasdaq on Thursday sank 3.7%, slammed by Meta Platforms‘ over 26% plunge on weak earnings. The Facebook parent’s more than $230 billion market cap loss was the largest one-day value decline in Wall Street history.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday slid 2.4% and 1.4%, respectively. Despite those losses, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were still on track for their strongest weekly performance of 2022. The Dow was also tracking for a weekly gain as of Thursday’s close.

The sudden jolt to the economy from the Covid omicron variant could show up in January’s employment report. Economists have wide-ranging expectations for the release, which is expected Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consensus Dow Jones estimate calls for a 150,000 gain in nonfarm payrolls. However, many economists — such as those at PNC, Jefferies, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Wilmington Trust — expect sharp declines.

In addition to the jobs numbers, the Federal Reserve is monitoring signs of inflationary pressures such as U.S. oil prices extending gains above $90 per barrel to October 2014 highs. The Fed is expected to hike interest rates multiple times this year, starting in March, to combat rising inflation.