Opening Comment — Friday, June 05, 2026
DJIA: 51,561.93, up 874.86
S&P 500: 7,584.31, up 30.63
NASDAQ: 26,830.96, down 23.01
Stocks mixed ahead of jobs report
Stock futures are mixed Friday morning ahead of today’s release of the May jobs report and April’s consumer credit data. Next week, investors will be looking towards May inflation data, with the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index out Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. As of 7:17 AM ET, the Dow is rising 0.1%, while the S&P 500 is down 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 1.0% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mixed on Thursday as initial jobless claims picked up and continuing claims for the week prior fell. In other labor market data, finalized first-quarter nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs were revised lower, coming in at 0.3% quarter-over-quarter (QOQ) and 1.8% on an annualized basis, respectively. The Dow was up 1.7% and reached a new record closing level of 51561.93, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%. The S&P 500 increased 0.4% with nine of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Health Care sector was the top performer, rising 3.2%, while the Information Technology sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.4%.
Technical Analysis:
As of midday Thursday, the trend for the S&P 500 remains higher. Resistance is yet to be determined, while support lies at the 50-day and 200-day moving averages of 7,140 and 6,854, respectively.
On the data front, May’s nonfarm payrolls are expected to expand by 88,000 versus the prior month’s 115,000, while manufacturing payrolls are projected to increase by 2,000 compared to the prior month’s decrease of 2,000. Average hourly earnings are projected to rise 0.3% month-over-month (MOM) and 3.4% year-over-year (YOY) for May, compared to the prior month’s increases of 0.2% and 3.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, both the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate are expected to remain unchanged at 4.3% and 61.8%, respectively. Consumer credit is expected to have expanded by $17.67 billion in April, lower than the prior month’s increase of $24.86 billion.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as French industrial production unexpectedly increased in April, rising 0.1% MOM and recording a stronger-than-expected increase of 2.8% YOY. Meanwhile, France’s trade and current account deficits both narrowed in April. The eurozone’s third reading of first-quarter gross domestic product fell short of expectations, being downwardly revised to show a 0.2% QOQ contraction and a 0.3% YOY gain.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were lower as Japan’s preliminary reading of the composite leading index for April unexpectedly ticked up to 115.9 following the prior month’s upwardly revised reading of 115.4. Meanwhile the country’s April labor cash earnings showed a greater-than-forecasted increase of 3.5% YOY, while household spending declined less than expected, falling 0.5% YOY.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is lower ahead of today’s U.S. jobs report.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.2% lower at $92.84/barrel as markets evaluate the latest geopolitical developments.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.2% lower at $4,466.65/ounce despite a weakening U.S. dollar.