The U.S. equity futures were trading mixed ahead of the release of the most anticipated economic report of the month.
The major futures indexes suggested a gain of 0.2% on the Dow when the trading session begins on Wall Street.
Friday morning is the first major economic event of the new year. The Labor Department is expected to say the U.S. economy added 400,000 new nonfarm jobs last month, nearly double November's lowest since December 2020, which was the lowest since December 2020.
The unemployment rate is expected to fall by 0.1 percentage point to 4.1%.
Wall Street may be bracing for a stronger than expected jobs report, given payroll processor ADP's latest monthly hiring survey released Wednesday showed that private U.S. companies hired 807,000 workers in December, or more than double the consensus forecast.
A strong jobs report could add urgency to the Federal Reserve's efforts to tackle inflation by raising interest rates.
The Institute for Supply Management reported on Thursday that growth in the U.S. service industry, where most Americans work, fell back in December after expanding at a record pace the previous two months.
The Labor Department reported last week that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits went up but remained at historically low levels, suggesting that the job market remains strong.
In Europe, London's FTSE fell 0.2%, Germany's DAX fell 0.7% and France's CAC declined 0.4%.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 index was less than 0.1% lower, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong increased 1.8% and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.2%.
A resurgence of coronaviruses has added to uncertainty over a revival of tourism and other business activity in Asia.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 4,696 on Thursday. The Dow fell by 0.5% to 36,236. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.1% to 15,080. The main culprit was the 86, Weakness in big tech companies like Apple. The iPhone maker fell by 1.7%. Health care stocks helped drag down the benchmark S&P 500 index, outweighing gains by banks, energy companies and other sectors.
Shares of GameStop Corp went up 27% in extended trading after a Wall Street Journal report said the retailer is launching a division to develop a marketplace for non-fungible NFTs and establish criptocurrency partnerships.
Bonds continued to climb. The yield on the 10 year Treasury rose to 1.73%, the highest level since March.
U.S. benchmark crude oil added 39 cents to $79.86 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It went up 2.1% on Thursday, helping to push energy stocks higher.
Brent crude, the basis for pricing international oil, climbed 38 cents to $82.37 per barrel.