U.S. stock-index futures were steady
- Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00 futures were down 0.18% at 37 cents, or 0.1%, at 33,621.
- S&P 500 futures ES00, at 0.18%, were up 2.26 points, or 0.1%, at 4,129.75.
- Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, -0.04%, retreated 1.26 points, or less than 0.1%, to 13,169.51.
Aside from the Dow industrials, U.S. stocks ended a short-term vacation week after several weekly gains for the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The Dow, 0.01%, advanced 0.5% for the week, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.36%, shed 0.1%, and the Nasdaq COMP, 0.76%, fell 1.12% after posting its best quarterly result since 2020.
A survey by The Wall Street Journal estimated on average that the statistics show the U.S. economy added another 238,000 jobs in March, down from 311,000. The unemployment number is expected to hold at 3.62%, while average hourly earnings are expected to advance 0.32% after a 0.23% increase in February.
Jobless claims fell below a 20-month low
Investors saw a flurry of jobs-related statistics in the days of the past week. A report on Tuesday showed U.S. jobless claims fell below 10 million to a 20-month low, suggesting the hot job market may be losing steam.
This week, ADP said the private sector added 145,000 jobs, below the 210,000 expected by experts. Data from the weekly jobless report on Thursday showed that initial claims for benefits last week came in at a higher level than expected.
It will be interesting to get to know what the weak report does to forecasts future rate hikes, which bond markets already think may be close to the bottom line.
Pinterest Inc (NYSE: PINS ) has already gained about 25% this year, but an analyst at Raymond James thinks it hasn’t benefited its shareholders yet.
Pinterest’s stock could also benefit from the company’s plans to become more streamlined and lower costs. To that end, it announced plans to cut 150 jobs in February.
