US futures are trending lower in the early hours of Friday morning after a robust ADP nonfarm payrolls report was released on Thursday. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 (NDX), S&P 500 (SPX) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) are down 0.25%, 0.16% and 0.14% as of 4:30 a.m. EST on July 7. On the other hand, WTI Crude Oil is trending higher today after the recent oil production cuts and is trading above $72 as of last check.
Traders are awaiting June jobs data due later today to gauge how strength in the jobs market could prompt the Fed to hike rates more aggressively going forward. For June, the number of employed is expected to increase by another 240,000 and the unemployment rate to fall to 3.6%. Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is on a four-day trip to China where she will discuss the ongoing trade war between the two nations and measures to circumvent these issues.
Notably, the major indices closed in the red on Thursday after the ADP jobs report showed private companies added a whopping 497,000 jobs in June, while 220,000 new jobs were expected to be added. The three averages are likely to end the week lower, beating multi-week gains from June.
In addition, shares in Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) slipped over 7% in after-hours trading yesterday after the company reported positive earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 23 but lowered expectations for fiscal 2023.NASDAQ:META) The newly launched “text-based conversation app” Threads is making waves on social media. Since its launch, 30 million users have signed up for the app.
Elsewhere, European indices are lower this morning after US markets entered a major sell-off prompted by news of better-than-expected US jobs data.
Asia-Pacific markets close lower on Friday
Asia-Pacific indices ended Friday’s trading session lower, following similar sentiment to their US counterparts. Traders are cautious on the upcoming higher rate hikes in the US
Meanwhile, shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABY) are up nearly 3% in premarket trading since last check. Chinese authorities today will most likely want to end the long-running regulatory overhaul of BABA’s fintech division Ant Group by imposing a hefty $1.1 billion fine. The end of the review means that Ant Group can pursue its IPO ambitions.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indices ended down 0.90%, 0.28% and 0.73%, respectively.
The Japanese indices Nikkei and Topix also closed down 1.17% and 0.97%, respectively.
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