U.S. stock futures are modestly higher ahead of the Wall Street open after a solid jobs report drew mixed reviews on Wednesday.

The moves come after a downbeat trading day on Wall Street in a volatile session with the Dow Industrial Index falling slightly off of record highs. The delayed January nonfarm payrolls report showed sharp jobs growth of 130,000 last month, above the 65K estimate.

The unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3% from 4.4%, which initially rallied equities before quickly reversing lower. Yet the strong payrolls numbers also dented the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook, and could mean fewer rate cuts than traders are anticipating.

More data on the labor market is due out this morning, with the latest weekly jobless claims figure. Investors will also be focused on earnings, with Cisco (CSCO) down 7% despite an earnings beat while McDonald’s (MCD) is slightly higher after better than expected results. 

Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)

• Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are down 0.3% near $64.40 a barrel and have been buoyed this week by potential supply risks should tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate, while draws of crude from key stockpiles suggested stronger demand.
• Gold (/GC) – Gold prices are down 0.4% near $5,080 after rising more than 1% on Wednesday, as steady long term buying helped the metal regain momentum after briefly paring gains while markets absorbed a strong U.S. jobs report.
• Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is up 0.3% near 68,000 in premarket trading.
• VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was down 0.8% on Wednesday and settled at 17.65 as stocks were mixed.
• U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is up 0.1% to 96.8.

Biggest Premarket Movers (as of 7 AM ET - Mark % Change)

1. Zebra Technologies (ZBRA): +10.70%
2. Equinix (EQIX): +9.39%
3. SanDisk (SNDK): +6.14%
4. West Pharma (WST): +4.00%
5. Akamai Tech (AKAM): +3.38%

1. Baxter (BAX): -14.19%
2. Rollins (ROL): -11.62%
3. Paycom Software (PAYC): -8.22%
4. Applovin (APP): -7.62%
5. Cisco Systems (CSCO): -7.03%

Economic Data

• 8:30 AM ET: Jobless Claims
• 10:00 AM ET: Existing Home Sales
• 10:30 AM ET: Natural Gas Inventories
• 1:00 PM ET: 30-Year Bond Auction
• 4:30 PM ET: Fed Balance Sheet

Notable Earnings

• Premarket: ABEV, AEP, BUD, BAX, BIRK, CBRE, CHKP, CROX, ETR, EXC, FTS, GTES, H, IRM, PCG, QSR, TRU, TRIP, USFD, ZBRA, ZTS
• Postmarket: ABNB, AEM, AMAT, ANET, CAE, COIN, CRSR, DKNG, BROS, EXPE, FLO, IR, CART, FBIN, MHK, PINS, PSA, RIVN, ROKU, TOST, TWLO, VRTX, WYNN, YELP
• Premarket Tomorrow: AAP, ALK, CCJ, ENB, MRNA, SXT, TRP, WEN
• Postmarket Tomorrow: None

Upgrades/Downgrades

• TD Cowen upgrades Shopify (SHOP) to Buy from Hold
• Mizuho upgrades Shopify (SHOP) to Outperform from Neutral
• Jefferies upgrades Novo Nordisk (NVO) to Hold from Underperform
• HSBC downgrades BP (BP) to Reduce from Hold
• JPMorgan downgrades Kraft Heinz (KHC) to Underweight from Neutral
• Daiwa downgrades Pfizer (PFE) to Neutral from Outperform

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