S&P 500 opens flat as investors take a step back ahead of NFP

Wall Street's main indexes post modest gains on Thursday.
Financial shares rise as US T-bond yields stage a rebound.
Energy stocks decline as crude oil prices go into consolidation.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes in the US opened near Wednesday's closing levels as investors seem to be reluctant to take large positions while waiting for Friday's labour market report. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was unchanged on the day at 4,167, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 0.1% at 34.265 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1% at 13,485.

Supported by a modest rebound witnessed in the US Treasury bond yields on Thursday, the rate-sensitive Financials Index is up 0.5% after the opening bell.

On the other hand, the Energy Index is losing 0.7% as the worst-performing major sector in the early trade as crude oil prices struggle to gain traction after closing in the red on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the US Department of Labor reported that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims declined to 498,000 in the week ending May 1. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 540,000 but failed to trigger a significant market reaction ahead of Friday's Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data.,

S&P 500 chart (daily)

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD remains offered below 1.1800, looks at US data

EUR/USD is still trading on the defensive in the latter part of Thursday’s session, while the US Dollar maintains its bid bias as investors now gear up for Friday’s key release of the PCE data, advanced Q4 GDP prints and flash PMIs.

GBP/USD seems vulnerable near one-month low vs. USD as traders await US data

The GBP/USD pair prolongs its weekly downtrend for the fifth consecutive day on Friday and slides back closer to a nearly one-month low, touched the previous day. Spot prices trade below mid-1.3400s during the Asian session on Friday and seem vulnerable to slide further as traders now look to important US macro data for a fresh impetus.

Gold eyes next breakout on US GDP, PCE inflation data

Gold sticks to recent gains around the $5,000-mark early Friday, biding time before the high-impact US macro events. The focus is now on the US fourth-quarter Gross Domestic Product, core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index and the Supreme Court’s ruling on President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

CME Group to make crypto products available for 24/7 trading in May

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has announced plans to extend trading hours for its regulated cryptocurrency futures and options to 24/7, starting May 29, pending regulatory approval.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.