S&P 500 Futures, US Treasury yields portray pre-NFP trading lull
- S&P 500 Futures fail to track mildly bid Wall Street benchmarks.
- US 10-year Treasury yields remain pressured for third consecutive day.
- Early signals for US NFP reject tapering fears but it all depend upon the actual release, virus updates are mixed.
Market sentiment remains sluggish during early Friday, repeating the usual pre-NFP performance. While portraying the mood, S&P 500 Futures remain sluggish even as the Wall Street benchmarks closed mildly positive on Thursday whereas the US 10-year Treasury yields drop 0.4 basis points (bps) to 1.29% by the press time.
Read: US stocks forecast: Bulls in the driving seat ahead of key Nonfarm Payrolls
In addition to the cautious mood ahead of the key US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP), mixed data concerning the coronavirus from Australia and New Zealand also challenge the momentum traders. While Australia refreshed record top infections and the UK daily cases of the virus also jump to the fresh multi-day high, receding hospitalization in the US and fewer cases from New Zealand mark dubious conditions of the COVID-19.
Elsewhere, China reports zero new coronavirus cases and the UK is pushing for a booster jab plan in September.
It’s worth observing that the market sentiment improved the previous day as extra catalysts for the US jobs report for August marked a soft NFP, versus 750K expected and 943K prior, pushing away the Fed tapering concerns.
The Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Claims eased from the market consensus for the week ended on August 27 Thursday. The four-week average of Initial Jobless Claims also declined from 366.75K to 355K. Previously, the ADP Employment Change and the employment component of the US ISM Manufacturing PMI both signaled a contraction in the US jobs and marked the need for further easy money policies.
Moving on, the US jobs report for August will be the key catalyst for the market after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s cautious optimism at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
Read: Nonfarm Payrolls August Preview: Sine qua non for the taper