US equity futures showed a downward trend ahead of Friday's opening bell as traders analyzed the December jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures experienced a decline of 0.8%, while S&P 500 futures decreased by 1%, and Nasdaq futures fell by 1.2%. Despite these dips, oil prices surged, with North Sea Brent crude rising by 3.8% to $79.80 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude climbing 4% to $76.89 per barrel. The December jobs report, released at 8:30 am ET, revealed an increase of 256,000 in nonfarm payrolls, surpassing the prior month's gain of 212,000 and significantly exceeding the estimates from Bloomberg, which predicted a more modest increase of 165,000.
The unemployment rate showed a slight decrease to 4.1% from 4.2%, contrasting with forecasts that anticipated no change. Consumer sentiment data, scheduled for release at 10 am ET, is projected to remain unchanged in January at a stable 74.0. Looking at global markets, Japan's Nikkei index closed down 1.1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended the day down 0.9%.
China's Shanghai Composite also saw a decline of 1.3%. Conversely, the UK's FTSE 100 fell by 0.5%, but Germany's DAX index observed a slight gain of 0.4% during Europe’s early afternoon trading session. In the equities sector, Akoya Biosciences experienced a notable 42% increase in shares pre-bell after announcing its agreement to be acquired by Quanterix in an all-stock transaction.
On the downside, ON Semiconductor saw its shares decline by 3.5% following a downgrade by Truist, which lowered its rating on the stock from buy to hold. This volatility in both employment figures and stock performance highlights the dynamic nature of the current US economy and global market interactions..