U.S. stock futures are pointing lower in pre-market trading for Friday, May 6, signaling another day of losses for the U.S. market. The Dow Futures are down -28.00 points to 17,546.0. The S&P 500 Futures are down -3.50 points to 2,040.5. The Nasdaq Futures are lower at 4,292.0 for a loss of -8.25 points. The Russell Futures are showing losses at 1,103.3 for a loss of -1.20.

In overnight trading in Asia, the Shanghai Composite gained 6.57 points to add 0.22 percent for a close of 2,997.84. Japan’s stock market was closed. In India the NSE Nifty closed at 7,733.45 for a loss of -2.05 points or -0.03 percent and the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 25,262.21 for a gain of 160.48 points or 0.64 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed at 20,449.82 for a loss of -76.01 points or -0.37 percent.

In Europe, markets are trading lower after small gains on Thursday. The Europe STOXX is at 2,753.57 for a loss of -22.46 points or -0.81 percent. The FTSE is at 6,073.23 for a loss of -44.02 points or -0.72 percent. Germany’s DAX is at 9,798.48 for a loss of -53.38 points or -0.54 percent. The CAC 40 is at 4,278.18 for a loss of -41.28 points or -0.96 percent.

Source: CNBC

Friday’s Factors and Events

The market’s focus for the day will be on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation report. Consensus is for an increase of 200,000 jobs however this number could range from 175,000 to 245,000. The previous month’s increase was 215,000. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 4.9% and the range for consensus is 4.8 percent to 5 percent.

Thursday’s Activity

Economic data for the week has been on the downtrend and follows a lower reading from the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ GDP data which showed a 0.5 percent growth rate for the first quarter. For the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down -0.66 percent and the S&P 500 is down -0.73 percent.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,660.44 and was flat for the day with a 0.05 percent gain. IBM was the Index’s leading stock while while JPMorgan led losses. The S&P 500 was also flat, closing at 2,050.61 for a gain of 0.51 points or 0.02%. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower for the day at 4,717.09 for a loss of 8.55 points or 0.18%.

Other notable index closes for Thursday included the small-cap Russell 2000, closing at 1,108.64 for a loss of 4.50 points or -0.40 percent. The small-cap S&P 600, closing at 681.92 for a loss of -4.40 points or -0.64 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index which closed at 6,797.98 for a loss of -23.26 points or -0.34 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM which closed at 8,094.31 for a loss of -22.31 points or -0.27 percent. The S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index which closed at 8,094.31 for a loss of -22.31 points or -0.27 percent The Russell 3000 which closed at 1,205.59 for a loss of -1.77 points or -0.15 percent and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index which closed at 584.16 for a loss of -1.17 points or -0.20 percent.

DJIA and Large-Cap Stocks

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, no company earnings reports are scheduled for Friday. The top pre-market movers according to CNN are the following:

American Airlines $33.44 +1.94 percent

Seagate Technology $19.75 +1.91 percent

Air Products and Chemicals $145.00 +1.22 percent

General Motors $30.80  +0.85 percent

Freeport-McMoRan $11.36 +0.62 percent

Walgreens $79.50 -2.41 percent

Cognizant Technology $57.00 -1.02 percent

Johnson & Johnson $112.50 -0.34 percent