Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were muted on Friday, as investors refrained from placing big bets ahead of a crucial nonfarm payrolls report and a Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump's
tariffs.
The top court in the U.S. is expected to deliver a ruling on the legality of Trump's sweeping tariffs, with traders anticipating heightened volatility across financial markets if the court strikes them down. Justices have voiced skepticism about Trump's authority to impose the tariffs in their November arguments.
Striking down tariffs could impact government revenue, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that he was more worried about the loss of Trump's leverage than revenue.
"A verdict against the US president could spark a new bout of uncertainty... Equities may rally if the court rules against tariffs," said analysts at Rabobank.
"However, that may be short-lived as Trump has indicated that his team has prepared alternative proposals to replace the existing tariff schemes if necessary."
On the other hand, the crucial nonfarm payrolls for December, due for release before markets open, will be in the spotlight, especially as they are among the first reliable datasets following a historic U.S. government shutdown late last year.
Economists polled by Reuters expect nonfarm payrolls to have increased by 60,000 in December and the unemployment rate to have ticked lower to 4.5% from 4.6% last month.
Markets are pricing in about 60 basis points of easing from the Federal Reserve in 2026, according to data compiled by LSEG, as numerous Fed policymakers cautioned against further reductions until there's more clarity on the health of the jobs market.
"The report will probably confirm a further softening of the US labor market, but we doubt that the numbers will be weak enough to convince a majority of the central bankers that another rate cut is urgently needed," Rabobank analysts said.
At 05:36 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 9 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 5.5 points, or 0.08% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 40 points, or 0.16%.
Wall Street's main indexes ended mixed on Thursday, as declines in tech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq, while consumer discretionary stocks boosted the Dow and countered most tech declines, leaving the S&P 500 flat.
Still, all three indexes are set for weekly gains in the first full trading week of 2026, largely powered by gains in the consumer discretionary and mining sectors.
The Dow is on track for its biggest weekly gain since the last week of November.
Defense stocks that had rallied on Thursday on prospects of a higher U.S. military budget in 2027, stabilized in premarket trading, with Lockheed Martin up 1.2% and RTX up 0.8%.
Intel gained 2.4% after Trump said he had a "great meeting" with the chipmaker's chief executive officer, Lip-Bu Tan.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
