December employment report in focus
U.S. stock futures jumped on Friday as market participants awaited the crucial December jobs report, which could show job losses for the first time since April.
Economists project the economy added about 50,000 new jobs last month, but some expect a modest fall in new jobs created due to coronavirus-related business shutdowns. The rate of unemployment is projected to go up to 6.8% from 6.7% in November.
The U.S. Department of Labor will publish the report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
At 5:20 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow gained 88 points, or 0.28% to 31,030. Those for the S&P 500 were up 10.62 points, or 0.28% to 3,806.12 while the technology-dominated Nasdaq 100 futures rose 50 points, or 0.39% to 12,978.
Crude extends gains on Saudi cuts
In commodities, crude futures also extended gains early Friday as Saudi Arabia’s unilateral decision to cut production continued to buoy market sentiment. The Saudis this week pledged extra, voluntary oil production cuts of 1 million barrels a day in February and March.
By 5:20 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $51.05, up 22 cents, or 0.43% a barrel. International Brent crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.61% to $54.71 a barrel.
Tesla founder Elon Musk overtakes Jeff Bezos as world’s richest person
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Elon Musk has earned the title of the richest person in the world, as his net worth crossed $185 billion on Thursday.
Musk overtook Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos after shares of the electric car maker soared nearly 8% to end yesterday’s session at $816.04.
The stock gained 743% in 2020, thanks to enthusiasm from retail investors, addition in the S&P 500 Index, and consistent profits.
As of writing, the stock was up $28.96, or 3.55% to $845 a share in the pre-market trading session Friday.
U.S. suspends plans to impose tariffs on French goods over digital services tax
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced on Thursday it has suspended a plan to slap new tariffs of 25% on $1.3 billion in French products in a dispute over a digital services tax.
The tit-for-tat tariffs were expected to go into effect on Wednesday. USTR cited ongoing investigations of similar measures “adopted or under consideration in 10 other jurisdictions.”
France’s implemented the digital service tax in 2019 to target tech companies like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Alphabet subsidiary Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).
