Wall St eyes steep losses at open after jobs data; Treasury yields spike

WALL Street’s main indexes were poised for a sharply lower open on Friday after a strong jobs report deepened fears that interest rates may stay elevated for an extended period.

The Labor Department’s report showed non-farm payrolls increased by 336,000 jobs in September on a monthly basis, against expectations of 170,000 additions, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Unemployment rate stood at 3.8% against expectations of 3.7%, while average hourly earnings increased 0.2%, compared with estimates of 0.3%.

“Payrolls beat estimates by a big margin, the economy looks hot and the ‘higher-for-longer’ narrative will probably switch back to simply ‘higher’,” said Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Miton Diversified Growth Funds.

“This will give the Fed a headache and the rest of us plenty to think about, the U.S. economy is showing its resilience yet again.”

U.S. stock index futures erased their initial gains with Treasury yields spiking after the data, while traders increased bets of another interest rate hike this year.

The labor market has managed to withstand the onslaught of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hike campaign, worrying investors that the central bank would keep its monetary policy tighter for a longer duration in its fight against inflation.

The S&P 500 eyed its fifth straight weekly fall, while the Dow is on track to decline for the third straight week.

Energy is set to be worst hit amongst the major S&P 500 sectors this week, while communications services is on track to be the best performing.

Fed officials on Thursday indicated little concern that the recent rise in yields could imperil a “soft landing” for the economy, and said it could actually help the central bank in its fight against inflation.

Looking ahead, data would take center stage once again with September consumer price inflation and producer price index readings due next week.

Focus will also be on the upcoming quarterly earnings season, with major banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and asset manager BlackRock reporting next week.

At 8:43 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 184 points, or 0.55%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 35.25 points, or 0.82%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 153.75 points, or 1.03%.

EV maker Tesla fell 2.8% in premarket trading after cutting prices of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the United States.

Exxon Mobil lost 3.1% after sources told Reuters that the largest U.S. oil producer was in advanced talks to acquire Pioneer Natural Resources. Pioneer’s stock jumped 12.1%.

Levi Strauss fell 1.4% after the denim clothing maker cut its annual forecasts for the second time after missing third-quarter sales estimates. – Reuters