The bond market settled Friday morning as investors waited for the September employment report, according to WSJ. U.S. equity futures moved higher before the bell while traders also tracked a sharp drop in oil prices, WSJ and CNBC reported.
Several outlets described the same setup ahead of the release. CNBC said stock futures rose as oil prices fell sharply and investors awaited the jobs report. Yahoo Finance reported that U.S. equity futures were higher pre-bell as traders monitored oil prices and waited on the September jobs report. Investing.com said U.S. stock futures drifted higher with nonfarm payrolls in focus, and Bloomberg reported that U.S. stock futures advanced ahead of the September payrolls data.
The common thread across the coverage is the nonfarm payrolls figure, the monthly count of U.S. employment that anchors the September jobs report. Investors are watching it for signals about the labor market's direction, while the moves in bonds and oil add two other inputs to the morning's trading picture. The WSJ headline described the bond market as steady, suggesting calmer conditions in fixed income as the data release approached.
What to watch next: the September payrolls number itself, and how bond yields, stock futures and oil prices react once it is published.
