Reaction to the monthly jobs report and the impact on expectations for future rate hikes might be the highlights on Friday. Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index point to a broadly lower open for Wall Street. Asian shares finished mostly lower, while European shares are mixed.
As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were up 45.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were sliding 1.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were declining 39.75 points.
The U.S. major averages all finished Thursday firmly in the red. The Dow tumbled 346.93 points or 1.2 percent to 29,926.94, the Nasdaq slid 75.33 points or 0.7 percent to 11,073.31 and the S&P 500 slumped 38.76 points or 1.0 percent to 3,744.52.
On the economic front, the Labor Department's Employment Situation for September will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 250,000, while it was up 315,000 in August.
The Unemployment rate is expected to be 3.7 percent, while it was up 3.7 percent in the prior month. Average
The Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week is scheduled at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 978 and the U.S. rig count was 765. The Fed Consumer Credit for August will be published at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is $25 billion and in the prior month it was up $23.8 billion.
Asian stocks declined on Friday. Chinese markets were closed for the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.51 percent to 17,740.05.
Japanese stocks were down at the close. The Nikkei average dropped 0.71 percent to 27,116.11, snapping a four-day winning streak. The broader Topix index ended 0.82 percent lower at 1,906.80.
Australian markets closed lower. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 dropped 0.80 percent to 6,762.80 but had a 4.5 percent gain for the week, its best weekly performance since October 2020.
The broader All Ordinaries index ended 0.82 percent lower at 6,976.10, dragged down by miners and banks.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.