Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures edged higher Friday ahead of the release of the much-anticipated monthly official jobs report, which could guide the Federal Reserve’s monetary bias for the rest of the year.
By 06:35 ET (10:35 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 90 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 Futures traded 14 points, or 0.3%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 58 points, or 0.4%.
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 Dow Jones Industrial Average is on course to drop 1.2% this week, heading for its third consecutive negative week. The benchmark S&P 500 is set to drop 0.7%, its fifth consecutive losing week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is largely flat.
Driving this weakness has been a recent spike in U.S. Treasury yields, led by concerns the Federal Reserve could hike interest rates again in 2023 and keep borrowing costs higher for a longer period of time.
Nonfarm payrolls data due
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.
Friday sees the publication of the ever-crucial monthly nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show that the U.S. economy added 170,000 roles in September, down from 187,000 in the prior month, while the unemployment rate is projected to dip to 3.7% from 3.8%.
A cooling labor market and continued tightening in financial conditions, i.e. rising U.S. Treasury yields, may mean that there is less need for the Fed to lift interest rates again this year, according to Mary Daly, president of the central bank's San Francisco branch, in an interview on Thursday.
Exxon eyes Pioneer Natural Resources - WSJ
In corporate news, ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) is currently in negotiations to buy Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), 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:TSLA) 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 higher Friday, but 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 06:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $82.62 a barrel, while the Brent contract traded 0.3% higher at $84.34.
The U.S. crude benchmark was down 9% this week, heading for its sharpest weekly loss since April, while the Brent contract was down more than 11%, on course to its sharpest weekly loss since March.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,837.60/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0562.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)