All eyes on April jobs report
Stock futures were trading higher early Friday as market participants awaited the Labor Department’s monthly jobs survey to reveal the damage the COVID-19 pandemic did to the labor market in April.
By 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were up 246.5 points, or 1.03% to 24,089.5. S&P 500 futures rose 28.88 points, or 1% to 2,908.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 85 points, or 0.93% to 9,192.75.
In commodities, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $24.34 a barrel, up 79 cents, or 3.35%. International Brent crude futures gained 52 cents, or 1.77% to $29.98 a barrel.
Economists polled by Refinitiv expect employers shed as many as 22 million jobs last month and that the unemployment rate to hit 16%, by far the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The Labor Department will publish the report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
U.S. and China pledge to implement Phase 1 trade deal
Meanwhile, top U.S. and Chinese trade officials have agreed to create favorable conditions for the implementation of the phase one trade deal that was signed at the beginning of the year.
China’s Ministry of Commerce released a statement saying Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer held a phone call late Thursday to discuss trade issues including the phase deal.
According to the statement, the officials agreed to “work together to create a beneficial environment for carrying out [the] ‘phase one’ trade deal.”
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump vowed to scrap the deal if China does not make good on its promise of purchasing $200 billion more of American products and services over the next two years.
Uber posts its biggest loss in three quarters as COVID-19 hurts rides; stock soars
Uber (NYSE: UBER) announced late Thursday that its overall first-quarter revenue was $3.54 billion, up 14% from $3.1 billion in the prior-year quarter thanks in part to its Uber Eats business.
However, net loss increased to $2.9 billion, or $1.70 per share (including a $2.1 billion write-down on the value of some of its investments) from $1.1 billion in same period last year. On average, analysts polled by Refinitiv expected the company to post a loss of $0.88 per share on revenue of $3.5 billion.
The ride-sharing giant said total gross bookings in the first three months of the year rose 8% to $15.7 billion, Eats swelled 54% and its core business segment, Rides, fell 3% on a year-over-year basis.
“I won’t sugarcoat it. COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on rides, with the business down globally around 80% in April,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told shareholders during the company’s earnings call.
As of this writing, Uber shares were up 8.15% to $33.45 each in the premarket trading session Friday.