Friday's Market Minute: Jobs Data Doesn't Deter Market Gains

U.S. equity futures are higher going into today’s trading session ahead of April’s highly anticipated Jobs Report. National unemployment has been on the rise due to impacts from COVID-19, which has materialized in more than 30 million total initial jobless claims in the U.S. over the past six weeks. While new claims in each weekly report have begun to decline since peaking at just under 7 million in late March, today’s monthly data will show a broader figure of where the U.S. labor market currently stands. Released at 8:30am ET, Nonfarm payrolls are expected to decline by anywhere between 8.6 million to 30 million, and the unemployment rate is expected to spike between 15 to 20 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March.

Despite the expected weakness in today’s economic data, the S&P 500 index futures (/ES), Nasdaq 100 futures (/NQ), and the Dow index futures (/YM) are all up about one percent. To the downside, the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) is hovering around a 30 level, down from 40 earlier in the week. To get a live breakdown of today’s jobs data and the market’s response, be sure to watch the TD Ameritrade Network.