US stocks traded broadly flat on Friday ahead of a monthly jobs report pivotal to hopes for interest-rate cuts, as investors eyed GameStop (GME) share moves and a coming Nvidia (NVDA) stock split.
S&P 500 (ES=F) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) futures hugged the flatline, coming off a lackluster session Thursday for the three major gauges. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were also little changed.
Stocks are on track for weekly wins after data suggesting a labor market cooldown reinforced bets that the Federal Reserve could start lowering rates from their two-decade high.
The highly anticipated May jobs report due at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday could test that optimism. It’s expected to show further signs of softening in the labor market, with a slight rise in nonfarm payrolls and a flat unemployment rate.
The key question will be whether slowing monthly job growth is merely a sign of normalization in the labor market or the early signs of a broader economic slowdown, as Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer reports. That debate will likely feed into the Fed’s deliberations at its policy meeting next week.
Read more: How does the labor market affect inflation?
The wait is also on for a livestream apparently promised by GameStop booster Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty”. The event, scheduled for noon ET Friday, would be the first live YouTube appearance by Gill since he helped ignite the meme stock rally three years ago.
GameStop shares jumped in early pre-market trading on Friday, having closed 47% higher, but dropped sharply after the video game retailer posted a drop in quarterly sales.
Also on deck is the completion of Nvidia’s 10-for-1 stock split, expected after the market closes. A midweek rally briefly vaulted the AI chipmaker to a $3 trillion valuation, but its shares have lost steam as short bets against the company pile up.
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