Markets on Wall Street were leaning toward tiny gains early Friday ahead of the Labor Department's release of the latest U.S. employment data.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up around 0.1% before the bell, while Nasdaq futures ticked up 0.2%.
U.S. homebuilder stocks continued to rise, though more modestly than they did a day earlier when President Donald Trump said he was directing the federal government to buy $200
billion in mortgage bonds. Trump said the move would help reduce mortgage rates at a time rising home prices continue to keep many potential homebuyers on the sideline.
KB Home, D.R. Horton and Lennar Corp. were all up between 1% and 2% overnight, a day after bigger gains of around 5%.
General Motors fell nearly 2% in premarket after the automaker said it will take close to a $6 billion hit in the fourth quarter as sales of electric vehicles sputter. The charges follow an announcement in October that GM would log a $1.6 billion charge for the same reason in the previous quarter.
Investors are also waiting for the government's release of its monthly job report for December, which could influence the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision.
The Fed cut its benchmark rate three times to end 2025 as central bank officials became increasingly concerned about a softening U.S. labor market, even as inflation remains above its 2% target. Friday's jobs data will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months because government didn’t issue a report in October due to the six-week government shutdown and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.
Economists are expecting the report to show that hiring remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces.
Should December’s jobs report come in surprisingly weak, it could strengthen case for a rate reduction at the Fed’s next meeting Jan. 27-28.
Also, later Friday morning the Supreme Court is also expected to issue a possible ruling on Trump’s far-reaching “Liberation Day” tariffs, which could lift market sentiment.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.6%, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.9%. Germany’s DAX was up 0.4%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.6% to 51,939.89. Shares of Fast Retailing, the fashion company behind Uniqlo, jumped more than 10.6% after its quarterly operating profit surged about 34% year-on-year. It revised its full-year forecasts upward.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 26,231.79, and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9% to 4,120.43, after official data showed China’s inflation rate picked up in December, rising at its fastest pace in almost three years. That suggests an improvement in demand, which tends to push prices higher.
The Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax, whose shares debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, surged 109%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell less than 0.1% to 8,717.80. Shares of Rio Tinto fell more than 6.2%, after the mining group confirmed that it is in preliminary merger talks with Glencore in a deal that could create the biggest mining company in the world.
South Korea’s Kospi added 0.8% to 4,586.32.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.2%, and India’s Sensex lost 0.7%.
In energy trading, oil prices gained after a volatile week following Trump’s ouster of the leader of Venezuela. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 41 cents to $58.17 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 44 cents to $62.43.
Supply worries persist. Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world and the U.S. has sought to assert control over its oil resources. It seized two more oil tankers this week, including one that sailed under a Russia flag that the U.S. said had evaded a blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela.
