Wall Street Might Start Slightly Positive

(RTTNews) - Friday, the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech, and other Fed speeches will be the highlights on Friday.

In the Asian trading session, gold ticked higher, while iil headed for its biggest weekly drop since October.

Early trends on the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open slightly up.

As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were up 5.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 4.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 31.5 points.

The U.S. major averages closed near their worst levels on Thursday. The Nasdaq plummeted 483.48 points or 2.6 percent to 18,069.26, the S&P 500 plunged 104.11 points or 1.8 percent at 5,738.52 and the Dow slumped 427.51 points or 1.0 percent to 42,579.08.

On the economic front, the Employment Situation for February will be issued at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is 160,000, while it was 143,000 in the prior month. The unemployment rate was up 4.0 percent, while it was up 4.0 percent in the prior month. The average hourly earnings were up 0.3 percent, while it was up 0.5 percent in January.

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 841 and the U.S. rig count was 593.

The Fed Consumer Credit for January is expected at 3.00 pm ET. The consensus is for an increase of $5.5 billion, while it was up $40.8 billion.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak on the economic outlook before the University of Chicago Booth School of Business 2025 U.S. Monetary Policy Forum at 12.30 pm ET.

New York Fed President John Williams and Fed Governor Michelle Bowman will participate in a panel discussion of the U.S. Monetary Policy Forum Report, 'Monetary Policy Transmission Post-Covid' organized by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business at 10.15 am ET.

Fed Governor Adriana Kugler will speak on 'The Rebalancing of Labor Markets Across the World' before the Bank of Portugal's Conference on Monetary Policy Transmission and the Labor Market at 1.00 pm ET.

Asian stocks retreated on Friday. Chinese shares ended lower. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.25 percent to 3,372.55 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 0.57 percent lower at 24,231.30.

Japanese markets tumbled. The Nikkei average fell 2.17 percent to 36,887.17. The broader Topix index settled 1.56 percent lower at 2,708.59.

Australian markets ended sharply lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slumped 1.81 percent to 7,948.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed down 1.78 percent at 8,178.50.