NEW YORK – Stock market futures saw a slight decline on Thursday evening as traders awaited the release of January’s key jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped slightly by 0.01%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures hovered around the even mark. In after-hours trading, Amazon saw a 4% decrease following disappointing revenue guidance for the first quarter, which projected its weakest growth rates to date.
Throughout the main trading session on Thursday, the S&P 500 experienced a 0.4% increase, with the Nasdaq Composite also rising by 0.5%. However, the Dow lagged behind with a decrease of approximately 0.3%. Despite this, all three major indexes were still on course to end the week with modest gains, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq looking at a 0.7% and 0.8% jump, respectively, while the Dow was trailing slightly with a 0.5% climb for the week.
Market sentiment had been shaky earlier in the week after President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China over the weekend, but then decided to halt similar tariffs on Canada and Mexico. This uncertainty in policy from the Trump administration was noted as a potential source of increased volatility in the market by BD8 Capital Partners CEO Barbara Doran during an interview on CNBC.
Looking ahead, traders were eagerly anticipating the release of January’s jobs report, set for Friday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting nonfarm payroll growth to be around 169,000 jobs, a decrease from the 256,000 jobs added in December. The unemployment rate was forecasted to remain steady at 4.1%. This data will likely have an impact on market movements and investor sentiment in the coming days.