S&P 500 futures edged lower Friday morning as investors looked ahead to the November jobs report.
Futures linked to the benchmark stock index fell 0.16%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.33%.
Shares of technology companies were volatile in after-hours trading after quarterly results were released. Asana, Zscaler and Marvell all slipped.
In regular trading, the Dow closed down nearly 195 points, while the S&P 500 edged down 0.09%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.13%.
The moves came after a slew of mixed economic data, including a slightly better-than-expected monthly core personal consumption spending report and a larger-than-expected drop in the ISM manufacturing index. The so-called PCE deflator is one of the Fed’s preferred inflation measures.
“Taken together, these two data could suggest a soft landing for the U.S. economy, as long as growth does not decline further,” Goldman Sachs’ Chris Hussey said in a note on Thursday.
Investors will focus on Friday’s Labor Department report on nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and hourly wages due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect the economy to have added 200,000 jobs in November, according to Dow Jones data. That would be down from an increase of 261,000 in October.
Friday is the final monthly jobs report before the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting on Dec. 12. On the 13th and 14th, the central bank is expected to raise the federal funds target rate by 0.5 percentage points.