Wall St set to open sharply higher on soft jobs data

WALL Street’s main indexes were set to open higher on Friday after a softer-than-expected jobs report revived hopes of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year, while gains in Apple and Amgen on upbeat corporate updates added support.

The Labor Department report showed U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 jobs in April, compared with expectations for an increase of 243,000, according to economists polled by Reuters.

The unemployment rate stood at 3.9% compared with expectations that it would remain steady at 3.8%, while average earnings rose 0.2% on a monthly basis against forecasts of 0.3% growth.

“The data is soft across the board from the Fed’s perspective, which is what really matters and an unemployment rate of 3.9% is not something disastrous,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede.

“This indicates an economy that is not declining dramatically, but it definitely indicates a looser labor market.”

Money markets are pricing in about 51 basis points of rate cuts from the U.S. central bank this year, compared with about 41 bps prior to the data release, according to LSEG data.

The latest economic data follows the Federal Reserve’s more dovish-than-expected interest rate guidance in its latest policy meeting, which caused U.S. stocks to rally on Thursday.

Apple jumped 7.2%, outpacing other megacap stocks in premarket trading on Friday after the iPhone maker unveiled a record $110 billion share buyback program and beat modest expectations for quarterly results and forecast.

Amgen climbed 12.9% as the biotechnology firm said it was very encouraged after completing an interim analysis of its mid-stage study of experimental weight-loss drug MariTide and as it reported first-quarter earnings.

Shares of rival Eli Lilly dipped 1%, while weight-loss drug developer Viking Therapeutics shed 2.3%.

At 08:42 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 497 points, or 1.29%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 58.25 points, or 1.14%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 284 points, or 1.61%.

Block rose 9.4% after the Jack Dorsey-led payments fintech firm lifted its full-year adjusted core earnings forecast and revealed plans to add more bitcoins to its balance sheet.

Expedia fell 10.5% after the online travel agency cut its full-year revenue growth forecast as gross bookings were hit by a drag in its vacation rental platform.

Fortinet dipped 7.8% after the cybersecurity firm forecast second-quarter billings below Wall Street estimates. – Reuters