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Stock futures remained steady in overnight trading on Thursday, following a four-day winning streak on Wall Street as investors awaited a closely watched jobs report in January.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up just 20 points. Futures on the S&P 500 were flat and futures on Nasdaq 100 were up 0.1%.
The Labor Department will release its January jobs report on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect 50,000 payrolls to be added last month, after falling from 140,000 in December, Dow Jones said. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 6.7%.
There are signs of improvement in the labor market recovery. Thursday’s weekly unemployment benefit data had 779,000 filed first times, the lowest since Nov. 28 and lower than the 830,000 economists expect.
The S&P 500 rose for a fourth day and closed at an all-time high on Thursday, boosted by technology and banking stocks. The Dow jumped over 300 points in the previous session, while the Nasdaq Composite also hit a new high.
“The three pillars of the rally got stronger: fourth quarter earnings continue to dramatically exceed expectations, boosting the economy and accelerating vaccination rates,” Adam Crisafulli, founder of VItal Knowledge, said in a note.
With four consecutive days of gains, the major averages are on track with their best weekly performance since November. The blue-chip Dow is up 3.6%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 4.2% and 5.4% respectively. The market rebounded from last week’s sharp losses as the speculative trading frenzy ebbed away.
Wall Street is in the midst of a solid earnings season. Of the 184 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date, 84.2% exceeded analyst expectations, Refinitiv said.
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