Stock futures were edging higher as the market tried to make sense of yet another tariff U-turn by President Donald Trump and waited for a jobs report likely to show how the economy is holding up amid the chaos.
The three blue-chip U.S. indexes had all dropped on Thursday, even though Trump delayed levies on some goods imported from Canada and Mexico until April 2. The one-month reprieve wasn’t enough to turn things around, as investors seemed exasperated by Trump’s repeated volte-faces on trade.
“With this being a delay rather than a lasting exemption and with reciprocal tariffs also expected to be announced after April 2, this leaves plenty of lingering tariff uncertainty,” Deutsche Bank economist Peter Sidorov said. “Sentiment then soured again after the move was confirmed as the noisy policy signals seemed to add to the risk-off tone.”
Barring any further tariff surprises, jobs numbers are likely to be Friday’s biggest story. The February nonfarm payrolls report due out at 8.30 a.m. Eastern Time could either soothe or bolster fears about cracks in the labor market. Economists surveyed by FactSet are expecting the economy to have added 160,000 payrolls, up from 143,000 in January.
For now, U.S. stocks looked set to edge higher. Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 53 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.3%, and contracts tied to the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.4% after the tech-heavy gauge closed in correction territory Thursday.
Bond yields retreated slightly as fears faded that Germany’s government spending plan would roil debt markets. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 1 basis point to 2.829%.