Stock futures fall after Dow’s worst day since 2020, jobs report looms

Stock futures were lower in early morning trading Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its worst day since 2020.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 121 points, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures traded 0.5% lower, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.7%.

The moves came after stocks sold off sharply on Thursday’s. The Dow lost more than 1,000 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 5%. Both indexes notched their worst single-day drops since 2020. The S&P 500 fell 3.56%, its second-worst day of the year.

Thursday’s losses erased Wednesday’s big post-Federal Reserve meeting rally. Fed Chair Jerome Powell ruled out the prospect of larger rate hikes on Wednesday, sending the S&P 500 and the Dow to their best daily gains since 2020.

“Yesterday, it was more the relief, the optimism, the hope. … There’s more realism coming through in the market today,” Michelle Cluver, portfolio strategist at Global X ETFs, said Thursday.

Technology stocks bore the brunt of Thursday’s fall, with cloud companies, e-retailers and mega-cap names seeing steep declines.

Despite Thursday’s wipeout, the S&P 500 is on pace to close the week up 0.4%. The Dow is on track to finish the week marginally higher, while the Nasdaq Composite is lower by 0.1% this week so far.

Investors are looking ahead to the April jobs report, set for release Friday morning. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect employers added 400,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls, down slightly from 431,000 in March. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 3.5% in April, down from 3.6% in March, according to Dow Jones.