© Reuters.
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures turned negative Friday after the release of a much stronger than expected monthly official jobs report, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates once more by the end of the year.
By 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT), the contract was down 155 points, or 0.5%, traded 33 points, or 0.8%, lower and dropped 143 points, or 1%.
The main indices on Wall Street ended the prior session marginally in the red, and are set to mostly post losing weeks. The 30-stock is on course to drop 1.2% this week, heading for its third consecutive negative week. The benchmark is set to drop 0.7%, its fifth consecutive losing week, while the tech-heavy is largely flat.
Driving this weakness has been a recent spike in U.S. Treasury yields, led by concerns the could hike interest rates again in 2023 and keep borrowing costs higher for a longer period of time.
Nonfarm payrolls soared in September
It’s been a mixed week for jobs data, but the data points have generally pointed to a lingering resilience in U.S. labor market conditions, which could still impact inflation going forward.
However, Friday’s ever-crucial monthly report showed that the U.S. economy added far more jobs in September than expected, with payrolls rising by 336,000 last month, well above the 170,000 estimated by economists. Data for August was revised to show 227,000 were added instead of the previous reading of 187,000.
Average hourly earnings grew by 0.2% month-on-month, in line with August, the numbers showed, while the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8%.
Exxon eyes Pioneer Natural Resources – WSJ
In corporate news, ExxonMobil (NYSE:) is currently in negotiations to buy Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:), which has a market capitalization of roughly $50 billion and is the largest crude producer in Texas, the Wall Street Journal reported.
This would be the largest tie-up for Exxon since it merged with Mobil in 1999 and all but crystallize its position as the West’s key oil major.
Additionally, Tesla (NASDAQ:) has cut the price of some Model 3 and Model Y versions in the U.S. after the company reported third-quarter deliveries that missed market expectations.
Crude set for sharp weekly decline
Oil prices edged lower Friday after the jobs data, and were on course for their steepest weekly decline for months on concerns of a global economic slowdown and the associated hit to fuel demand.
Official U.S. data this week showed a sharp build in gasoline stocks, indicating a decline in gasoline demand in the largest consumer in the world.
By 08:45 ET, the futures traded 0.5% lower at $81.90 a barrel, while the contract traded 0.3% lower at $83.86.
The U.S. crude benchmark was down 10% this week, heading for its sharpest weekly loss since April, while the Brent contract was down more than 12%, on course to its sharpest weekly loss since March.
Additionally, fell 0.4% to $1,824.05/oz, while traded 0.4% lower at 1.0500.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)
