U.S. Stocks Set To Open Higher As Unemployment Rate Declines To 8.4%

Economy Added 1.37 Million Jobs In August

U.S. has just released Non Farm Payrolls and Unemployment Rate reports for August.

The Non Farm Payrolls report showed that 1.37 million jobs were created in August, mostly in line with the analyst consensus of 1.4 million.

Meanwhile, Unemployment Rate declined from 10.2% to 8.4%. Unemployment Rate was much better than the analysts’ forecast of 9.8%.

Yesterday, Initial Jobless Claims report showed that 881,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits in a week while Continuing Jobless Claims declined to 13.25 million.

In total, the recent employment data painted a picture of the continued recovery of the job market.

S&P 500 futures are gaining ground in premarket trading session, boosted by the better-than-expected Unemployment Rate report.

Tech Stocks In Focus

On Thursday, high-flying tech stocks led the market sell-off. Tesla shares lost 9% of value in one day while Apple stock declined by 8%. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet also suffered significant losses.

The sell-off did not have a clear catalyst and was likely caused by profit-taking after a huge rally. The leading tech stocks have a big impact on S&P 500 so today’s trading will depend on whether major tech stocks will be able to rebound.

At this point, Nasdaq 100 futures are pointing to a lower open. In case the correction in tech stocks continues, the broader S&P 500 will also find itself under material pressure.

WTI Oil Tries To Rebound After Two Bad Days

WTI oil is gaining ground as it tries to recover after the recent sell-off which was caused by traders’ concerns about the speed of demand recovery.

This is a welcome development for oil-related stocks which have mostly trended down since mid-August.

Right now, the main risk for oil is the continuation of the U.S. dollar rebound. The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the U.S. dollar against a broad basket of currencies, has already made several attempts to get above the 93 level.

If the U.S. Dollar Index manages to get above this level, oil will likely fall towards the $40 level, putting significant pressure on oil-related equities.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.